diff --git a/contrib/pylightning/lightning/lightning.py b/contrib/pylightning/lightning/lightning.py
index 8eb99b22e275..42aa86fceeb5 100644
--- a/contrib/pylightning/lightning/lightning.py
+++ b/contrib/pylightning/lightning/lightning.py
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ def __init__(self, socket_path, executor=None, logger=logging, encoder_cls=json.
         self.next_id = 0
 
     def _writeobj(self, sock, obj):
-        s = json.dumps(obj, cls=self.encoder_cls)
+        s = json.dumps(obj, ensure_ascii=False, cls=self.encoder_cls)
         sock.sendall(bytearray(s, 'UTF-8'))
 
     def _readobj(self, sock, buff=b''):