Research on the contemporary philosophy of science shows that discussion of the ontological problem is of fundamental significance for the study of the philosophy of science and theory of a certain specific discipline. Natural and social sciences researches are inseparable from the philosophical guidance. The philosophy of geography is the ideological basis of geography. The traditional philosophy of geography is methodology-oriented, which usually lays emphasis on "logical structure of explanation of geography", and ignores the discussion of its ontology. This article, in the context of philosophy of science, explores the relationships among methodology, ontology and philosophy of geography, defines the connotations of geographical ontology, analyzes the links and differences between philosophical ontology and scientific ontology of geography, clarifies the nature of geographical ontology, and summaries its theoretical values. The ontology of geography does not only involve the philosophically ontological belief of geographers and geographical schools but also the ontological commitment of the theory of geography. As different geographers hold different philosophical viewpoints, their ontological beliefs are different; and one geographical theory holds an ontological commitment of "what there is to be", and thus the nature and kinds of objectives referred to by the theory are determined. The ontological beliefs of geographers determine their epistemology, methodology and axiology, and the ontological commitment of a geographical theory is the premise and basis of the theory to be constructed.

For the sake of adapting to the changes of elements in both kernel system and external system of rural development, rural restructuring is a process of optimally allocating and efficiently managing the material and non-material elements affecting rural development, reshaping social and economic structures in rural areas and optimizing spatial pattern in rural territory, and approaching the structure optimization and function promotion of rural territorial system as well as the structure coordination and function complementation of urban-rural territorial system. Based on elaborating the concept and connotations of rural restructuring and the mechanism of promoting rural restructuring due to the evolution of "elements-structure-function", the paper probed the approaches of rural restructuring from the aspects of spatial restructuring, economic restructuring and social restructuring. In order to meet the current national strategic demands and meet the challenges of rural development in the process of urban-rural development transformation, it is in great urgency to strengthen the study on the patterns and processes, dynamic mechanism, differentiated development models, rural planning technology systems, strategies and policies for rural development, and the impacts of globalization on China's rural restructuring in the future. Finally, focusing on a series of problems in the implementation of some important government intervention policies, which is aimed at boosting the social and economic development of rural areas in recent years, a critical analysis and discussion is carried out.