diff --git a/pycorenlp/corenlp.py b/pycorenlp/corenlp.py
index 6eb2175..990b077 100644
--- a/pycorenlp/corenlp.py
+++ b/pycorenlp/corenlp.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ def annotate(self, text, properties=None):
             self.server_url, params={
                 'properties': str(properties)
             }, data=data, headers={'Connection': 'close'})
+        r.encoding = 'utf-8'
         output = r.text
         if ('outputFormat' in properties
              and properties['outputFormat'] == 'json'):