CREATE DATABASE test 
CHARACTER SET 'utf8' 
COLLATE 'utf8_general_ci'; 

CREATE TABLE content ( 
text VARCHAR(100)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8; 

show variables like "%char%"; 

mysql> show variables like "%char%"; 
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+
| character_set_client | utf8 |
| character_set_connection | utf8 |
| character_set_database | utf8 |
| character_set_filesystem | binary |
| character_set_results | utf8 |
| character_set_server | utf8 |
| character_set_system | utf8 |
| character_sets_dir | /usr/local/mysql-5.7.13-osx10.11-x86_64/share/charsets/ |
+--------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+
8 rows in set (0.01 sec)