Reciprocity not only is the traditional virtue of Chinese nation,but also plays an important role in the standard rule in the process of social interaction.Based on the data of Chinese Social Survey (CSS) of 2015,this paper takes gift expenditure as a proxy in the system,uses Ordered Logit model and Ordered Probit model and takes factors of personal heterogeneity and region into consideration to investigate the effects on happiness of rural residents.The result shows that firstly,reciprocity and well-being of rural residents showed a typical “inverted U”,“turning point” of family gift expenditure,which accounts for the total consumption expenditure ratio,and happiness is about 42%.This result remains significant after adjusting the estimation method and replacing the explanatory variable.Secondly,when gift expenditure in the total is at position of the mean 11.41%,the probability of reporting “very happy” in rural households has increased by 8.8%.Thirdly,the influence of gift expenditure on the well-being of rural residents showed distinct group differences.For people in the Western regions,low-income,married,middle-aged and elderly groups,the proportion of gift expenditure over the “inflection point” is higher,while the proportion of Party members over the “inflection point” is significantly lower than that of the masses.