PHP: connect to mysql database utf-8

gistfile1.php

<?php
$query = "SELECT * FROM table1";
$my_connection = mysql_connect ( "localhost" , "user_name" , "pass" );
if (!$my_connection)
{
	die( 'Could not connect to database : ' . mysql_error()) ;
}
mysql_set_charset('utf8');
$db_selected = mysql_select_db('database_name', $my_connection);
if (!$db_selected) {
	die (mysql_error());
}
$result = mysql_query($query, $my_connection);
if (!$result) {
	die("error: " .  mysql_error());
}
$rows = array();
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
	$rows[] = $row;
}
?>