diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 6c5957d2..55590f3b 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 		<jpa.show_sql>false</jpa.show_sql>
 		<jpa.datasource.name>java:openejb/Resource/My DataSource</jpa.datasource.name>
 		<jpa.cache>false</jpa.cache>
+		<jpa.table.encoding>utf8mb4</jpa.table.encoding>
 		<cache_service.class>com.commafeed.backend.cache.NoopCacheService</cache_service.class>
 	</properties>
 
@@ -434,6 +435,7 @@
 			<id>openshift</id>
 			<properties>
 				<jpa.datasource.name>java:jboss/datasources/MysqlDS</jpa.datasource.name>
+				<jpa.table.encoding>utf8</jpa.table.encoding>
 			</properties>
 			<build>
 				<finalName>commafeed</finalName>
diff --git a/src/main/resources/changelogs/db.changelog-1.0.xml b/src/main/resources/changelogs/db.changelog-1.0.xml
index 231a5aff..81654ef4 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/changelogs/db.changelog-1.0.xml
+++ b/src/main/resources/changelogs/db.changelog-1.0.xml
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
 			<column name="logLevel" type="VARCHAR(255)" />
 		</createTable>
 		<modifySql dbms="mysql">
-			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET utf8mb4" />
+			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET ${jpa.table.encoding}" />
 		</modifySql>
 	</changeSet>
 
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@
 			</column>
 		</createTable>
 		<modifySql dbms="mysql">
-			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET utf8mb4" />
+			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET ${jpa.table.encoding}" />
 		</modifySql>
 	</changeSet>
 
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@
 			<column name="position" type="INT" />
 		</createTable>
 		<modifySql dbms="mysql">
-			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET utf8mb4" />
+			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET ${jpa.table.encoding}" />
 		</modifySql>
 	</changeSet>
 
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@
 			</column>
 		</createTable>
 		<modifySql dbms="mysql">
-			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET utf8mb4" />
+			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET ${jpa.table.encoding}" />
 		</modifySql>
 	</changeSet>
 
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@
 			<column name="title" type="VARCHAR(2048)" />
 		</createTable>
 		<modifySql dbms="mysql">
-			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET utf8mb4" />
+			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET ${jpa.table.encoding}" />
 		</modifySql>
 	</changeSet>
 
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@
 			</column>
 		</createTable>
 		<modifySql dbms="mysql">
-			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET utf8mb4" />
+			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET ${jpa.table.encoding}" />
 		</modifySql>
 	</changeSet>
 
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@
 			<column name="lastEntryDate" type="DATETIME" />
 		</createTable>
 		<modifySql dbms="mysql">
-			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET utf8mb4" />
+			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET ${jpa.table.encoding}" />
 		</modifySql>
 	</changeSet>
 
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@
 			<column name="position" type="INT" />
 		</createTable>
 		<modifySql dbms="mysql">
-			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET utf8mb4" />
+			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET ${jpa.table.encoding}" />
 		</modifySql>
 	</changeSet>
 
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@
 			<column name="sequence_next_hi_value" type="INT" />
 		</createTable>
 		<modifySql dbms="mysql">
-			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET utf8mb4" />
+			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET ${jpa.table.encoding}" />
 		</modifySql>
 	</changeSet>
 
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@
 			</column>
 		</createTable>
 		<modifySql dbms="mysql">
-			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET utf8mb4" />
+			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET ${jpa.table.encoding}" />
 		</modifySql>
 	</changeSet>
 
@@ -345,7 +345,7 @@
 			<column name="theme" type="VARCHAR(32)" />
 		</createTable>
 		<modifySql dbms="mysql">
-			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET utf8mb4" />
+			<append value=" ENGINE INNODB CHARACTER SET ${jpa.table.encoding}" />
 		</modifySql>
 	</changeSet>