Index: db/backends/mysql/base.py
===================================================================
--- db/backends/mysql/base.py   (revision 4431)
+++ db/backends/mysql/base.py   (working copy)
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@
                 'db': settings.DATABASE_NAME,
                 'passwd': settings.DATABASE_PASSWORD,
                 'conv': django_conversions,
+                'charset': 'utf8',
             }
             if settings.DATABASE_HOST.startswith('/'):
                 kwargs['unix_socket'] = settings.DATABASE_HOST