The movement of the Yau Ma Tei temple, as explained in the temple overview, marks an adaptation of these temples from solely religious sites to places of more general cultural and historical significance. Now, rather than holding a singular religious role, the Yau Ma Tei temple exerts its influence over the public space (i.e. "Temple" street and the "Temple Street Night Market"). The private religious experience has become conflated with the public image of Hong Kong. This can be seen in the temple's integration into everyday urban life in Hong Kong, whether that be in street names, public facilities or MTR stops.

We can look at this phenomenon with greater depth by comparing the modernization of Hong Kong with that of Guangzhou. In his analysis of the City God Temple and urbanization in Guangzhou, Shuk-Wah Poon underlines the clashing interests of modernity and religion as "the pursuit of modernity" in Republican China brought concepts of evolution, progress, and rationality to the forefront and promoted societyal changes. He explores how "the government's modernizing project transformed ordinary people into modern citizens" by "reordering the urban religious space." However, we do not see the same zealous destruction of superstition and tradition in Hong Kong as he sees in Guangzhou. Instead of "eradicating" deities to eliminate superstition, it seems Hong kong has adopted them instead. Figures like Tin Hau work to define the city, bringing depth and history to the concrete jungle. Temples such as the one at Yau Ma Tei work, not as a "confrontation between new and old," but as a marriage between the two. Religion does not have to be destroyed in the process of modernization (Poon 249).

In Guangzhou, for example, they changed the name of various religious landmarks as the government wanted to "demonstrate a break with the imperial and superstitious past" in order to "reshape the urban landscape [and] social memory of the people" (Poon 250). However, we do not see this change in Hong Kong. Rather than changing the names of these temples or altering them into public halls or museums, they have been maintained. Furthermore, by promoting the temple in its urban structure, Hong Kong has kept religious tradition alive in the wake of modernization--giving deities some significance in the face of urbanization and the decline of religious dedication.