diff --git a/tests/test_apache_json.py b/tests/test_apache_json.py
index 85844e1..2b47b81 100644
--- a/tests/test_apache_json.py
+++ b/tests/test_apache_json.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 import sys
 import time
 from multiprocessing import Process
+from io import BytesIO
 
 import pytest
 import six
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@
     make_client as make_rpc_client
 from thriftpy2.thrift import TProcessor, TType
 from thriftpy2.transport import TMemoryBuffer
+from thriftpy2.transport.base import TTransportBase, TTransportException
 from thriftpy2.transport.buffered import TBufferedTransportFactory
 
 
@@ -35,11 +37,57 @@ def recursive_vars(obj):
         return recursive_vars(vars(obj))
 
 
-def test_thrift_transport():
-    test_thrift = thriftpy2.load(
+class ChunkedMemoryTransport(TTransportBase):
+    def __init__(self, value, chunk_size):
+        self._buffer = BytesIO(value)
+        self._chunk_size = chunk_size
+
+    def is_open(self):
+        return True
+
+    def open(self):
+        pass
+
+    def close(self):
+        self._buffer.close()
+
+    def _read(self, sz):
+        return self._buffer.read(min(sz, self._chunk_size))
+
+    def write(self, buf):
+        self._buffer.write(buf)
+
+    def flush(self):
+        pass
+
+
+def load_test_thrift(module_name="test_thrift"):
+    return thriftpy2.load(
         "apache_json_test.thrift",
-        module_name="test_thrift"
+        module_name=module_name
     )
+
+
+def make_request_bytes(test_thrift, obj, seqid=0):
+    args = test_thrift.TestService.test_args(test=obj)
+    buf = TMemoryBuffer()
+    oprot = TApacheJSONProtocolFactory().get_protocol(buf)
+    oprot.write_message_begin("test", 1, seqid)
+    oprot.write_struct(args)
+    return buf.getvalue()
+
+
+def read_request_args(test_thrift, data, chunk_size=4096):
+    trans = ChunkedMemoryTransport(data, chunk_size)
+    iprot = TApacheJSONProtocolFactory().get_protocol(trans)
+    assert iprot.read_message_begin() == ("test", 1, 0)
+    args = iprot.read_struct(test_thrift.TestService.test_args())
+    iprot.read_message_end()
+    return args
+
+
+def test_thrift_transport():
+    test_thrift = load_test_thrift()
     Test = test_thrift.Test
     Foo = test_thrift.Foo
     test_object = Test(
@@ -131,10 +179,7 @@ def test(t):
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('server_func', [(make_rpc_server, make_rpc_client),
                                          (make_http_server, make_http_client)])
 def test_client(server_func):
-    test_thrift = thriftpy2.load(
-        "apache_json_test.thrift",
-        module_name="test_thrift"
-    )
+    test_thrift = load_test_thrift()
 
     class Handler:
         @staticmethod
@@ -177,3 +222,41 @@ def run_server():
     finally:
         proc.terminate()
     time.sleep(1)
+
+
+def test_load_data_handles_chunked_messages():
+    test_thrift = load_test_thrift(module_name="chunked_messages_test_thrift")
+    first = test_thrift.Test(
+        tstr='你好 \\\\ "quoted" [brackets] 😀🚀🎉',
+        tlist_of_strings=['["nested"]', 'slash\\\\quote\\"', '中文😀🎉'],
+    )
+    second = test_thrift.Test(tstr="第二条 😀🚀🎉")
+    transport = ChunkedMemoryTransport(
+        b" \n\t" + make_request_bytes(test_thrift, first) + make_request_bytes(test_thrift, second),
+        chunk_size=7,
+    )
+    iprot = TApacheJSONProtocolFactory().get_protocol(transport)
+
+    assert iprot.read_message_begin() == ("test", 1, 0)
+    first_args = iprot.read_struct(test_thrift.TestService.test_args())
+    iprot.read_message_end()
+
+    assert iprot.read_message_begin() == ("test", 1, 0)
+    second_args = iprot.read_struct(test_thrift.TestService.test_args())
+    iprot.read_message_end()
+
+    assert recursive_vars(first_args.test) == recursive_vars(first)
+    assert recursive_vars(second_args.test) == recursive_vars(second)
+
+
+def test_load_data_raises_eof_for_truncated_payload():
+    test_thrift = load_test_thrift(module_name="truncated_test_thrift")
+    request_data = make_request_bytes(test_thrift, test_thrift.Test(tstr="truncated"))[:-1]
+    iprot = TApacheJSONProtocolFactory().get_protocol(
+        ChunkedMemoryTransport(request_data, chunk_size=4)
+    )
+
+    with pytest.raises(TTransportException) as exc_info:
+        iprot.read_message_begin()
+
+    assert exc_info.value.type == TTransportException.END_OF_FILE
diff --git a/thriftpy2/protocol/apache_json.py b/thriftpy2/protocol/apache_json.py
index 625a628..657f82d 100644
--- a/thriftpy2/protocol/apache_json.py
+++ b/thriftpy2/protocol/apache_json.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 """
 
 from __future__ import absolute_import
+import codecs
 import json
 import base64
 import sys
@@ -13,7 +14,9 @@
 import six
 
 from thriftpy2.protocol import TProtocolBase
+from thriftpy2.protocol.exc import TProtocolException
 from thriftpy2.thrift import TType
+from thriftpy2.transport.base import TTransportException
 
 
 CTYPES = {
@@ -77,44 +80,82 @@ class TApacheJSONProtocol(TProtocolBase):
     Protocol that implements the Apache JSON Protocol
     """
 
+    READ_CHUNK_SIZE = 4096
+
     def __init__(self, trans):
         TProtocolBase.__init__(self, trans)
         self._req = None
+        self._decoder = json.JSONDecoder()
+        self._input_text = ""
+        self._utf8_decoder = codecs.getincrementaldecoder("utf-8")()
+
+    def _read_chunk(self, sz):
+        read = getattr(self.trans, "_read", None)
+        if read is None:
+            # read(sz) may block until full on buffered transports, so only probe one byte here.
+            return self.trans.read(1)
+        return read(sz)
+
+    def _decode_chunk(self, chunk, final=False):
+        try:
+            return self._utf8_decoder.decode(chunk, final=final)
+        except UnicodeDecodeError as exc:
+            raise TProtocolException(
+                type=TProtocolException.INVALID_DATA,
+                message="Bad UTF-8 data in Apache JSON payload: {}".format(exc)
+            )
+
+    def _try_parse_buffer(self):
+        stripped = self._input_text.lstrip()
+        if not stripped:
+            return False
+
+        try:
+            self._req, end = self._decoder.raw_decode(stripped)
+        except ValueError:
+            return False
+
+        self._input_text = stripped[end:]
+        return True
+
+    def _raise_parse_error(self):
+        stripped = self._input_text.lstrip()
+        if not stripped:
+            self._req = None
+            self._input_text = ""
+            return
+
+        try:
+            self._decoder.raw_decode(stripped)
+        except ValueError as exc:
+            pos = getattr(exc, "pos", None)
+            if pos is None or pos >= len(stripped):
+                raise TTransportException(
+                    TTransportException.END_OF_FILE,
+                    "End of file reading Apache JSON payload"
+                )
+            raise TProtocolException(
+                type=TProtocolException.INVALID_DATA,
+                message="Invalid Apache JSON payload: {}".format(exc)
+            )
 
     def _load_data(self):
-        data = b""
-        l_braces = 0
-        in_string = False
         while True:
-            # read(sz) will wait until it has read exactly sz bytes,
-            # so we must read until we get a balanced json list in absence of knowing
-            # how long the json string will be
-            if hasattr(self.trans, 'getvalue'):
-                try:
-                    data = self.trans.getvalue()
-                    break
-                except Exception:
-                    pass
-            new_data = self.trans.read(1)
-            data += new_data
-            if new_data == b'"' and not data.endswith(b'\\"'):
-                in_string = not in_string
-            if not in_string:
-                if new_data == b"[":
-                    l_braces += 1
-                elif new_data == b"]":
-                    l_braces -= 1
-            if l_braces == 0:
-                break
-        if data:
-            self._req = json.loads(data.decode('utf8'))
-        else:
-            self._req = None
+            if self._try_parse_buffer():
+                return
+
+            new_data = self._read_chunk(self.READ_CHUNK_SIZE)
+            if not new_data:
+                self._input_text += self._decode_chunk(b"", final=True)
+                self._raise_parse_error()
+                return
+
+            self._input_text += self._decode_chunk(new_data)
 
     def read_message_begin(self):
         if not self._req:
             self._load_data()
-        return self._req[1:4]
+        return tuple(self._req[1:4])
 
     def read_message_end(self):
         pass
@@ -316,4 +357,6 @@ def read_struct(self, obj):
         :param obj:
         :return:
         """
-        return self._dict_to_thrift(self._req[4], obj)
+        result = self._dict_to_thrift(self._req[4], obj)
+        self._req = None
+        return result