diff --git a/core/includes/database/mysql/database.inc b/core/includes/database/mysql/database.inc
index e024a7f..21b9711 100644
--- a/core/includes/database/mysql/database.inc
+++ b/core/includes/database/mysql/database.inc
@@ -19,7 +19,30 @@ class DatabaseConnection_mysql extends DatabaseConnection {
    */
   protected $shutdownRegistered = FALSE;
 
+  /**
+   * Flag to indicate our charset. It can either be utf8 or utf8mb4 (adds
+   * support for 4-byte UTF8 characters). See settings.default.php to learn
+   * more about utf8mb4. This is used in combination with the __get
+   * method below to make charset a read-only property of this object.
+   *
+   * @var string
+   */
+  protected $charset = 'utf8';
+
+  /**
+   * This is used to fetch readonly variables, you can not read the registry
+   * instance reference through here.
+   * 
+   * @param string $var
+   * @return string
+   */
+  public function __get($property) {
+    // Only allow access to the charset property.
+    if ($property == 'charset') return $this->$property;
+  }
+
   public function __construct(array $connection_options = array()) {
     // This driver defaults to transaction support, except if explicitly passed FALSE.
     $this->transactionSupport = !isset($connection_options['transactions']) || ($connection_options['transactions'] !== FALSE);
 
@@ -52,14 +75,16 @@ class DatabaseConnection_mysql extends DatabaseConnection {
 
     parent::__construct($dsn, $connection_options['username'], $connection_options['password'], $connection_options['pdo']);
 
-    // Force MySQL to use the UTF-8 character set. Also set the collation, if a
-    // certain one has been set; otherwise, MySQL defaults to 'utf8_general_ci'
-    // for UTF-8.
+    // Default Drupal to use the UTF-8 character set, but allow the use of
+    // utf8mb4 for better internationalization and full 4-byte UTF-8 support
+    // if set. Also set the collation, if a certain one has been set; otherwise,
+    // MySQL defaults to 'utf8_general_ci' for UTF-8.
+    $this->charset = (isset($connection_options['charset']) ? ($connection_options['charset'] == 'utf8mb4' ? 'utf8mb4' : 'utf8') : 'utf8');
     if (!empty($connection_options['collation'])) {
-      $this->exec('SET NAMES utf8 COLLATE ' . $connection_options['collation']);
+      $this->exec('SET NAMES ' . $this->charset . ' COLLATE ' . $connection_options['collation']);
     }
     else {
-      $this->exec('SET NAMES utf8');
+      $this->exec('SET NAMES ' . $this->charset);
     }
 
     // Set MySQL init_commands if not already defined.  Default Drupal's MySQL
diff --git a/core/includes/database/mysql/install.inc b/core/includes/database/mysql/install.inc
index 75f2ae3..f0e5d5e 100644
--- a/core/includes/database/mysql/install.inc
+++ b/core/includes/database/mysql/install.inc
@@ -29,5 +29,24 @@ class DatabaseTasks_mysql extends DatabaseTasks {
   public function minimumVersion() {
     return '5.0.15';
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Validates settings. Specifically the character set
+   */
+  public function validateDatabaseSettings($database) {
+    global $conf;
+
+    // Perform standard validation.
+    $errors = parent::validateDatabaseSettings($database);
+
+    // If we are using utf8mb4 charset, make sure the database supports it
+    if (isset($database['chatset']) && $database['charset'] == 'utf8mb4') {
+      if (!db_query("SHOW CHARACTER SET WHERE Charset = 'utf8mb4'")->rowCount()) {
+        $errors['mysql_charset'] = st('Your database does not support the utf8mb4 character set');
+      }
+    }
+
+    return $errors;
+  }
 }
 
diff --git a/core/includes/database/mysql/schema.inc b/core/includes/database/mysql/schema.inc
index 4e88fa1..9ac9966 100644
--- a/core/includes/database/mysql/schema.inc
+++ b/core/includes/database/mysql/schema.inc
@@ -142,6 +142,11 @@ class DatabaseSchema_mysql extends DatabaseSchema {
       $sql .= ' unsigned';
     }
 
+    // If it is a text-field, check to see if we should use utf8mb4 (4-byte UTF8) as the character set
+    if ($spec['type'] == 'text' && Database::getConnection()->charset == 'utf8mb4') {
+      $sql .= ' CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_general_ci';
+    }
+
     if (isset($spec['not null'])) {
       if ($spec['not null']) {
         $sql .= ' NOT NULL';
diff --git a/sites/default/default.settings.php b/sites/default/default.settings.php
index 360e556..0ae5078 100755
--- a/sites/default/default.settings.php
+++ b/sites/default/default.settings.php
@@ -152,7 +152,23 @@
  *   );
  * @endcode
  * NOTE: MySQL and SQLite's definition of a schema is a database.
+ * 
+ * By default MySQL only uses a 3-byte UTF8 character set. This can cause
+ * probmems when trying to save data that contains high-order UTF8 characters,
+ * such as math symbols and rarer languages. If you have MySQL 5.5.3+, you can
+ * turn on support for 4-Byte UTF8 characers in text-fields by enabling the 
+ * utf8mb4 character set on all text columns. More information on utf8mb4
+ * can be found here:
+ * http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/charset-unicode-utf8mb4.html
+ * 
+ * An example of using the utf8mb4 character set:
  *
+ * @code
+ * $databases['default']['default'] = array(
+ *   'charset' => 'utf8mb4'
+ * );
+ * @endcode
+ * 
  * Advanced users can add or override initial commands to execute when
  * connecting to the database server, as well as PDO connection settings. For
  * example, to enable MySQL SELECT queries to exceed the max_join_size system