diff --git a/qa/rpc-tests/test_framework/authproxy.py b/qa/rpc-tests/test_framework/authproxy.py
index fba469a0d..d8f0013a2 100644
--- a/qa/rpc-tests/test_framework/authproxy.py
+++ b/qa/rpc-tests/test_framework/authproxy.py
@@ -67,9 +67,11 @@ def EncodeDecimal(o):
 class AuthServiceProxy(object):
     __id_count = 0
 
-    def __init__(self, service_url, service_name=None, timeout=HTTP_TIMEOUT, connection=None):
+    # ensure_ascii: escape unicode as \uXXXX, passed to json.dumps
+    def __init__(self, service_url, service_name=None, timeout=HTTP_TIMEOUT, connection=None, ensure_ascii=True):
         self.__service_url = service_url
         self._service_name = service_name
+        self.ensure_ascii = ensure_ascii # can be toggled on the fly by tests
         self.__url = urlparse.urlparse(service_url)
         if self.__url.port is None:
             port = 80
@@ -130,12 +132,12 @@ class AuthServiceProxy(object):
         AuthServiceProxy.__id_count += 1
 
         log.debug("-%s-> %s %s"%(AuthServiceProxy.__id_count, self._service_name,
-                                 json.dumps(args, default=EncodeDecimal)))
+                                 json.dumps(args, default=EncodeDecimal, ensure_ascii=self.ensure_ascii)))
         postdata = json.dumps({'version': '1.1',
                                'method': self._service_name,
                                'params': args,
-                               'id': AuthServiceProxy.__id_count}, default=EncodeDecimal)
-        response = self._request('POST', self.__url.path, postdata)
+                               'id': AuthServiceProxy.__id_count}, default=EncodeDecimal, ensure_ascii=self.ensure_ascii)
+        response = self._request('POST', self.__url.path, postdata.encode('utf-8'))
         if response['error'] is not None:
             raise JSONRPCException(response['error'])
         elif 'result' not in response:
@@ -145,9 +147,9 @@ class AuthServiceProxy(object):
             return response['result']
 
     def _batch(self, rpc_call_list):
-        postdata = json.dumps(list(rpc_call_list), default=EncodeDecimal)
+        postdata = json.dumps(list(rpc_call_list), default=EncodeDecimal, ensure_ascii=self.ensure_ascii)
         log.debug("--> "+postdata)
-        return self._request('POST', self.__url.path, postdata)
+        return self._request('POST', self.__url.path, postdata.encode('utf-8'))
 
     def _get_response(self):
         http_response = self.__conn.getresponse()
@@ -158,7 +160,7 @@ class AuthServiceProxy(object):
         responsedata = http_response.read().decode('utf8')
         response = json.loads(responsedata, parse_float=decimal.Decimal)
         if "error" in response and response["error"] is None:
-            log.debug("<-%s- %s"%(response["id"], json.dumps(response["result"], default=EncodeDecimal)))
+            log.debug("<-%s- %s"%(response["id"], json.dumps(response["result"], default=EncodeDecimal, ensure_ascii=self.ensure_ascii)))
         else:
             log.debug("<-- "+responsedata)
         return response