<p>Customary interests are benefits that are not recognized or protected by the legal system but are supported by local culture and social systems. Due to the tension between law and custom, disputes arising from customary practices occur frequently. Researchers selected three cases of bridge worship disputes in Southeast Guizhou, China, and through descriptions of local residents’ prayers in bridge worship and their contention over “bridge worship rights,” they illustrate the demands of individuals or groups for customary interests outside the current legal framework. Supported by local belief systems, community consensus at the village level, symbolic public rituals, and the absence of legal regulation, customary interests are formed and persist over time. In the process of national modernization, the delocalization of governance entities and rules has led to the inability of formal state authority to intervene in the regulation of customary interests, resulting in the continued occurrence of customary disputes such as bridge worship. Therefore, to achieve good governance, the state should integrate customs into the legal system and incorporate social mechanisms into administrative processes to form a harmonized, pluralistic order among diverse rules, thereby effectively addressing customary interests.</p>