diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 814157f5a..3f579c793 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 full_requires = org_requires + benchmark_hpo_requires + \
                 benchmark_htl_requires + app_requires
 
-with open("README.md", "r") as fh:
+with open("README.md", "r", encoding='UTF-8') as fh:
     long_description = fh.read()
 
 setuptools.setup(