diff --git a/src/main/java/com/jsoniter/JsonIterator.java b/src/main/java/com/jsoniter/JsonIterator.java
index 1f8d077e..56e155bc 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/jsoniter/JsonIterator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/jsoniter/JsonIterator.java
@@ -6,9 +6,11 @@
 import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 import java.lang.reflect.Type;
 import java.math.BigDecimal;
 import java.math.BigInteger;
+import java.nio.charset.Charset;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -494,6 +496,10 @@ public static final Any deserialize(String input) {
         return deserialize(input.getBytes());
     }
 
+    public static Any deserialize(final String input, final Charset charset) {
+        return deserialize(input.getBytes(charset));
+    }
+
     public static final Any deserialize(Config config, byte[] input) {
         JsoniterSpi.setCurrentConfig(config);
         try {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/jsoniter/output/JsonStream.java b/src/main/java/com/jsoniter/output/JsonStream.java
index 88f77077..3551754c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/jsoniter/output/JsonStream.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/jsoniter/output/JsonStream.java
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.lang.reflect.Type;
+import java.nio.charset.Charset;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 
 public class JsonStream extends OutputStream {
 
@@ -470,6 +472,10 @@ public static String serialize(Object obj) {
         return serialize(JsoniterSpi.getCurrentConfig().escapeUnicode(), obj.getClass(), obj);
     }
 
+    public static String serialize(Object obj, final Charset charset) {
+        return serialize(JsoniterSpi.getCurrentConfig().escapeUnicode(), obj.getClass(), obj, charset);
+    }
+
     public static String serialize(Config config, TypeLiteral typeLiteral, Object obj) {
         JsoniterSpi.setCurrentConfig(config);
         try {
@@ -484,12 +490,16 @@ public static String serialize(TypeLiteral typeLiteral, Object obj) {
     }
 
     public static String serialize(boolean escapeUnicode, Type type, Object obj) {
+        return  serialize(escapeUnicode, type, obj, Charset.defaultCharset());
+    }
+
+    public static String serialize(boolean escapeUnicode, Type type, Object obj, Charset charset) {
         JsonStream stream = JsonStreamPool.borrowJsonStream();
         try {
             stream.reset(null);
             stream.writeVal(type, obj);
             if (escapeUnicode) {
-                return new String(stream.buf, 0, stream.count);
+                return new String(stream.buf, 0, stream.count, charset);
             } else {
                 return new String(stream.buf, 0, stream.count, "UTF8");
             }
@@ -504,7 +514,6 @@ public static void setMode(EncodingMode mode) {
         Config newConfig = JsoniterSpi.getDefaultConfig().copyBuilder().encodingMode(mode).build();
         JsoniterSpi.setDefaultConfig(newConfig);
         JsoniterSpi.setCurrentConfig(newConfig);
-
     }
 
     public static void setIndentionStep(int indentionStep) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/jsoniter/output/TestString.java b/src/test/java/com/jsoniter/output/TestString.java
index 96dda062..66b527dc 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/jsoniter/output/TestString.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/jsoniter/output/TestString.java
@@ -1,15 +1,45 @@
 package com.jsoniter.output;
 
+import com.jsoniter.JsonIterator;
+import com.jsoniter.any.Any;
 import com.jsoniter.spi.Config;
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
 
+import java.lang.reflect.Field;
+import java.nio.charset.Charset;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+
 public class TestString extends TestCase {
     public void test_unicode() {
         String output = JsonStream.serialize(new Config.Builder().escapeUnicode(false).build(), "中文");
         assertEquals("\"中文\"", output);
     }
+
     public void test_escape_control_character() {
         String output = JsonStream.serialize(new String(new byte[]{0}));
         assertEquals("\"\\u0000\"", output);
     }
+
+    public void test_encoding_different_than_default() throws NoSuchFieldException, IllegalAccessException {
+        Charset defaultEncoding = Charset.defaultCharset();
+        try {
+            // Sets the default encoding
+            setDefaultEncoding("US-ASCII");
+
+            Any output = JsonIterator.deserialize("{\"name\":\"Thomas Müller\"}", StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+            assertEquals("{\"name\":\"Thomas Müller\"}", JsonStream.serialize(output, StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+        } finally {
+            // Sets the default encoding  back to its real default
+            setDefaultEncoding(defaultEncoding.name());
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void setDefaultEncoding(String defaultEncoding) throws NoSuchFieldException, IllegalAccessException {
+        // This block sets the Default Charset
+        System.setProperty("file.encoding", defaultEncoding);
+        // Unfortunately this "hack" is necessary (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/361975/setting-the-default-java-character-encoding)
+        Field cs = Charset.class.getDeclaredField("defaultCharset");
+        cs.setAccessible(true);
+        cs.set(null, null);
+    }
 }