diff --git a/README.txt b/README.txt
index a83ad6b..0b1731f 100644
--- a/README.txt
+++ b/README.txt
@@ -188,7 +188,9 @@ JSON. The detailed help info for the four functions can be found below:
             opt.ShowProgress [0|1]: if set to 1, loadjson displays a progress bar.
             opt.ParseStringArray [0|1]: if set to 0, loadjson converts "string arrays" 
                           (introduced in MATLAB R2016b) to char arrays; if set to 1,
-                          loadjson skips this conversion. 
+                          loadjson skips this conversion.
+            opt.Encoding ['']: json file encoding. Support all encodings of
+                          fopen() function
 
   output:
        dat: a cell array, where {...} blocks are converted into cell arrays,
@@ -289,6 +291,9 @@ JSON. The detailed help info for the four functions can be found below:
                               compressed binary array data. 
          opt.CompressArraySize [100|int]: only to compress an array if the total 
                           element count is larger than this number.
+         opt.Encoding ['']: json file encoding. Support all encodings of
+                          fopen() function
+
          opt can be replaced by a list of ('param',value) pairs. The param 
          string is equivallent to a field in opt and is case sensitive.
   output:
diff --git a/loadjson.m b/loadjson.m
index 29d0617..ff8ce7b 100644
--- a/loadjson.m
+++ b/loadjson.m
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@
 %                         for output format, it is incompatible with all
 %                         previous releases; if old output is desired,
 %                         please set FormatVersion to 1.9 or earlier.
+%           opt.Encoding ['']: json file encoding. Support all encodings of
+%                         fopen() function
 %
 % output:
 %      dat: a cell array, where {...} blocks are converted into cell arrays,
@@ -69,11 +71,20 @@
 % -- this function is part of JSONLab toolbox (http://iso2mesh.sf.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi?jsonlab)
 %
 
+    opt=varargin2struct(varargin{:});
+    
     if(regexp(fname,'^\s*(?:\[.*\])|(?:\{.*\})\s*$','once'))
        string=fname;
     elseif(exist(fname,'file'))
        try
-           string = fileread(fname);
+           encoding = jsonopt('Encoding','',opt);
+           if(isempty(encoding))
+               string = fileread(fname);
+           else
+               fid = fopen(fname,'r','n',encoding);
+               string = fread(fid,'*char')';
+               fclose(fid);
+           end
        catch
            try
                string = urlread(['file://',fname]);
@@ -93,7 +104,6 @@
     esc = find(inputstr=='"' | inputstr=='\' ); % comparable to: regexp(inputstr, '["\\]');
     index_esc = 1;
 
-    opt=varargin2struct(varargin{:});
     opt.arraytoken_=arraytoken;
     opt.arraytokenidx_=arraytokenidx;
 
diff --git a/savejson.m b/savejson.m
index a556698..ef88140 100644
--- a/savejson.m
+++ b/savejson.m
@@ -88,6 +88,8 @@
 %                         for output format, it is incompatible with all
 %                         previous releases; if old output is desired,
 %                         please set FormatVersion to 1.9 or earlier.
+%        opt.Encoding ['']: json file encoding. Support all encodings of
+%                         fopen() function
 %
 %        opt can be replaced by a list of ('param',value) pairs. The param 
 %        string is equivallent to a field in opt and is case sensitive.
@@ -198,11 +200,16 @@
 filename=jsonopt('FileName','',opt);
 if(~isempty(filename))
     if(jsonopt('SaveBinary',0,opt)==1)
-	    fid = fopen(filename, 'wb');
-	    fwrite(fid,json);
+        fid = fopen(filename, 'wb');
+        fwrite(fid,json);
     else
-	    fid = fopen(filename, 'wt');
-	    fwrite(fid,json,'char');
+        encoding = jsonopt('Encoding','',opt);
+        if(isempty(encoding))
+            fid = fopen(filename,'wt');
+        else
+            fid = fopen(filename,'wt','n',encoding);
+        end
+        fwrite(fid,json,'char');
     end
     fclose(fid);
 end