JSON_ENCODE in PHP Returns Chinese Characters as Hex

Question

I've got a simple PHP one-dimension array.

When I do a var dump (echo var_dump($a)), I get this as the output: array(3) { [0]=> string(3) "尽" [1]=> string(21) "exhausted||to exhaust" [2]=> string(4) "jin3" }

However, when I JSON_ENCODE it (echo json_encode($a)) I get this: ["\u5c3d","exhausted||to exhaust","jin3"]

The hex value that it's returning is the correct one, but I can't figure out how to STOP it from giving me the hex. I just want it to display the character.

If I echo mb_internal_encoding() it returns UTF-8 which is what I've set it to. I've been very careful in all my string manipulation to use the mb_ functions so none of the data gets messed up.

I know that I could write a modified JSON_ENCODE function that would take care of the problem. But I gotta figure this one out... Thanks!