diff --git a/data/System/DatabasePlugin.txt b/data/System/DatabasePlugin.txt
index b85260d..1769b77 100644
--- a/data/System/DatabasePlugin.txt
+++ b/data/System/DatabasePlugin.txt
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ Or let's say you wanted to display the next two upcoming scheduled events in the
 |  Plugin Author: | TWiki:Main.TaitCyrus |
 |  Plugin Version: | %$VERSION% |
 |  Change History: | |
+|  02 Nov 2016 | Tasks.Item14207: tell MySQL that Foswiki-2 strings are utf8 - Main.FlorianSchlichting |
 |  16 Dec 2011 | Tasks.Item10405: Fix a bug preventing the use of a remote !ConfigSource - Main.FlorianSchlichting |
 |  28 Nov 2008 | Tasks.Item8018: Switch to foswiki - Main.LarsEik |
 |  17 Sep 2007 | Bugs:Item4343 Minor corrections to Config.spec - TWiki:Main.CrawfordCurrie |
diff --git a/lib/Foswiki/Plugins/DatabasePlugin.pm b/lib/Foswiki/Plugins/DatabasePlugin.pm
index a9626c4..fce6ae4 100644
--- a/lib/Foswiki/Plugins/DatabasePlugin.pm
+++ b/lib/Foswiki/Plugins/DatabasePlugin.pm
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ use vars qw( $VERSION $RELEASE $dbinfo $SHORTDESCRIPTION );
 use Foswiki::Plugins::DatabasePlugin::Connection;
 
 $VERSION          = '$Rev$';
-$RELEASE          = '2.1';
+$RELEASE          = '2.2';
 $SHORTDESCRIPTION = 'Provide access to data in a SQL database';
 
 sub initPlugin {
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ sub initPlugin {
 "DBI:$Foswiki::cfg{Plugins}{DatabasePlugin}{ConfigDriver}:database=$Foswiki::cfg{Plugins}{DatabasePlugin}{ConfigDB};host=$Foswiki::cfg{Plugins}{DatabasePlugin}{ConfigHost}$sid",
             $Foswiki::cfg{Plugins}{DatabasePlugin}{ConfigUsername},
             $Foswiki::cfg{Plugins}{DatabasePlugin}{ConfigPassword},
-            { PrintError => 1, RaiseError => 0 }
+            { PrintError => 1, RaiseError => 0, mysql_enable_utf8 => 1 }
         );
         if ( !$db ) {
             die "Can't open initialization database";