XIAOZUO, China—Not much happens in this dusty Chinese village, population 3,000.

Then, on July 30, residents discovered that the bus stand for Route 84 on the edge of their village in central Henan province had mysteriously moved 200 meters, or 656 feet, west, where it sat reposing in a batch of freshly poured concrete.

Further down the sun-beaten stretch of road, there was a gaping hole in the ground where the old bus stop—a pole bearing a metal placard stamped with route names—used to be.

With that, Xiaozuo became the latest hamlet to fall prey to a particularly Chinese menace: the moving bus stop.

Across the world’s second-largest economy, citizens are playing footsie with bus stands, wreaking havoc with transport routes and pitting neighbors against one another as they angle for the special rewards and prestige that can come with having a bus stop close at hand.