Find mysql configuration file. On Ubuntu system in is located at __/etc/mysql/my.cnf__ In this file specify ``` [mysql] default-character-set=utf8mb4 [mysqld] character-set-server=utf8mb4 collation-server=utf8mb4_unicode_ci ``` Now restart mysql server ``` service mysql restart ``` Now you can check encoding. At first log into mysql. Then type ``` show variables like '%char%'; ``` In the existing database change the table and column encoding to __utf8mb4__ ``` ALTER DATABASE databasename CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci; ALTER TABLE tablename CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci; ``` In the connection string to database __DO NOT SPECIFY__ character encoding because it can override database values from config file