This paper aims to discuss strategic nature of public relations in the big data era. By indepth interviews with 30 Chinese public relations scholars and practitioners in the Greater China region basing on grounded theory, we found that: 1. Big data era has impelled a “strategic turn”in education, research, and practice in China’spublic relations. There is an interesting“Besieged city” phenomenon manifesting the tension between“de-institutionalizing public relations” and “institutionalizing public relations” in practice. Based on this phenomenon, this study proposes a Contingency Model of Public Relations and a words cloud graph.2. Big data era has geared public relations education in China towards being integrated and transdisciplinary. Debate on “down-playing news”and“up-playing public relations”appeared.3. A new Paradigm of Strategic Communication has been introduced in communication education. Discussion of “positive public relations” and “negative public relations” became a hot topic. 4. This paper finally puts forward the theoretical proposition of “public relations strategy”.