diff --git a/Readme.md b/Readme.md
index 2f34a6d3d..7283e0258 100644
--- a/Readme.md
+++ b/Readme.md
@@ -194,8 +194,8 @@ When establishing a connection, you can set the following options:
 * `password`: The password of that MySQL user.
 * `database`: Name of the database to use for this connection (Optional).
 * `charset`: The charset for the connection. This is called "collation" in the SQL-level
-  of MySQL (like `utf8_general_ci`). If a SQL-level charset is specified (like `utf8mb4`)
-  then the default collation for that charset is used. (Default: `'UTF8_GENERAL_CI'`)
+  of MySQL (like `utf8mb4_unicode_ci`). If a SQL-level charset is specified (like `utf8mb4`)
+  then the default collation for that charset is used. (Default: `'UTF8MB4_UNICODE_CI'`)
 * `timezone`: The timezone used to store local dates. (Default: `'local'`)
 * `connectTimeout`: The milliseconds before a timeout occurs during the initial connection
   to the MySQL server. (Default: `10000`)
diff --git a/lib/ConnectionConfig.js b/lib/ConnectionConfig.js
index f15d5a0ab..07dd3f29e 100644
--- a/lib/ConnectionConfig.js
+++ b/lib/ConnectionConfig.js
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ function ConnectionConfig(options) {
   this.maxPacketSize = 0;
   this.charsetNumber = (options.charset)
     ? ConnectionConfig.getCharsetNumber(options.charset)
-    : options.charsetNumber||Charsets.UTF8_GENERAL_CI;
+    : options.charsetNumber||Charsets.UTF8MB4_UNICODE_CI;
 
   // Set the client flags
   var defaultFlags = ConnectionConfig.getDefaultFlags(options);