diff --git a/src/emqx_json.erl b/src/emqx_json.erl
index 93243f7ac..5ec285db5 100644
--- a/src/emqx_json.erl
+++ b/src/emqx_json.erl
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
 
 -spec(encode(json_term()) -> json_text()).
 encode(Term) ->
-    encode(Term, []).
+    encode(Term, [force_utf8]).
 
 -spec(encode(json_term(), encode_options()) -> json_text()).
 encode(Term, Opts) ->