MySQL Tutorial/String Functions/CHARSET

To produce a string in a given character set, use the optional USING clause:

mysql>
mysql>
mysql> SELECT CHARSET(CHAR(0x65)), CHARSET(CHAR(0x65 USING utf8));
+---------------------+--------------------------------+
| CHARSET(CHAR(0x65)) | CHARSET(CHAR(0x65 USING utf8)) |
+---------------------+--------------------------------+
| binary              | utf8                           |
+---------------------+--------------------------------+
1 row in set (0.08 sec)
mysql>
mysql>