diff --git a/apisix/cli/ngx_tpl.lua b/apisix/cli/ngx_tpl.lua
index 8de3bd1a1309..71c3e80c3642 100644
--- a/apisix/cli/ngx_tpl.lua
+++ b/apisix/cli/ngx_tpl.lua
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ http {
     server_tokens off;
 
     include mime.types;
-    charset utf-8;
+    charset {* http.charset *};
 
     # error_page
     error_page 500 @50x.html;
diff --git a/conf/config-default.yaml b/conf/config-default.yaml
index a48f91611048..fbccd79ae3ab 100644
--- a/conf/config-default.yaml
+++ b/conf/config-default.yaml
@@ -195,6 +195,8 @@ nginx_config:                     # config for render the template to generate n
       keepalive_requests: 1000     # Sets the maximum number of requests that can be served through one keepalive connection.
                                    # After the maximum number of requests is made, the connection is closed.
       keepalive_timeout: 60s       # Sets a timeout during which an idle keepalive connection to an upstream server will stay open.
+    charset: utf-8                 # Adds the specified charset to the "Content-Type" response header field, see
+                                   # http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_charset_module.html#charset
 
 etcd:
   host:                           # it's possible to define multiple etcd hosts addresses of the same etcd cluster.
diff --git a/t/cli/test_main.sh b/t/cli/test_main.sh
index 9be93f029edf..0c01a7ee46bc 100755
--- a/t/cli/test_main.sh
+++ b/t/cli/test_main.sh
@@ -621,3 +621,21 @@ if ! grep "keepalive_timeout 6s;" conf/nginx.conf > /dev/null; then
 fi
 
 echo "passed: found the keepalive related parameter in nginx.conf"
+
+# check the charset setting
+git checkout conf/config.yaml
+
+echo '
+nginx_config:
+  http:
+    charset: gbk
+' > conf/config.yaml
+
+make init
+
+if ! grep "charset gbk;" conf/nginx.conf > /dev/null; then
+    echo "failed: 'charset gbk;' not in nginx.conf"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "passed: found the 'charset gbk;' in nginx.conf"