title: MySQL database collation and character set
body: <p>I have a mySQL database that has collation and character sets as follows:</p>
  
  <pre><code>mysql&gt; show variables like "character_set_database";
  +------------------------+-------+
  | Variable_name          | Value |
  +------------------------+-------+
  | character_set_database | utf8  |
  +------------------------+-------+
  1 row in set (0.00 sec)
  
  mysql&gt; show variables like "collation_database";
  +--------------------+-----------------+
  | Variable_name      | Value           |
  +--------------------+-----------------+
  | collation_database | utf8_unicode_ci |
  +--------------------+-----------------+
  1 row in set (0.00 sec)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have a table of countries, which consists of an, id and name. When I try to import this country (as an example with 'foreign' characters) </p>
  
  <pre><code>São Tomé and Príncipe
  
  I get the following error:
  
    Unable to execute INSERT statement. [wrapped: SQLSTATE[HY000]: General error:
  1366 Incorrect string value: '\xE3\xA3o To...' for column 'name' at row 1]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have imported this data in the past - Does anyone have any idea why I cant import this data (as yml fixtures)?. I have succesfully imported it in the past. I dont rememeber what has changed since though</p>