diff --git a/cmake/CMakeLists.txt b/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
index 429920293e..7431c8d566 100644
--- a/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cmake/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ FIND_LIBRARY(icu "icuuc" /usr/lib /usr/lib64 /usr/local/lib /usr/local/lib64 ${I
 IF(icu)
     MESSAGE(STATUS "ICU libraries found")
     ADD_DEFINITIONS(-DHAVE_ICU)
+    SET(ICU_LIBRARIES icuuc icudata)
 ELSE()
     MESSAGE(STATUS "Unable to find ICU library files, continuing")	
 ENDIF()
@@ -170,13 +171,13 @@ ADD_EXECUTABLE(IfcConvert
     ../src/ifcconvert/util.cpp
 )
 
-TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES (IfcConvert IfcParse IfcGeom TKernel TKMath TKBRep TKGeomBase TKGeomAlgo TKG3d TKG2d TKShHealing TKTopAlgo TKMesh TKPrim TKBool TKBO TKFillet TKSTEP TKSTEPBase TKSTEPAttr TKXSBase TKSTEP209 TKIGES TKOffset ${Boost_LIBRARIES} ${OPENCOLLADA_LIBRARIES})
+TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES (IfcConvert IfcParse IfcGeom TKernel TKMath TKBRep TKGeomBase TKGeomAlgo TKG3d TKG2d TKShHealing TKTopAlgo TKMesh TKPrim TKBool TKBO TKFillet TKSTEP TKSTEPBase TKSTEPAttr TKXSBase TKSTEP209 TKIGES TKOffset ${Boost_LIBRARIES} ${OPENCOLLADA_LIBRARIES} ${ICU_LIBRARIES})
 
 ADD_EXECUTABLE(IfcGeomServer
     ../src/ifcgeomserver/IfcGeomServer.cpp
 )
 
-TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES (IfcGeomServer IfcParse IfcGeom TKernel TKMath TKBRep TKGeomBase TKGeomAlgo TKG3d TKG2d TKShHealing TKTopAlgo TKMesh TKPrim TKBool TKBO TKFillet TKSTEP TKSTEPBase TKSTEPAttr TKXSBase TKSTEP209 TKIGES TKOffset)
+TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES (IfcGeomServer IfcParse IfcGeom TKernel TKMath TKBRep TKGeomBase TKGeomAlgo TKG3d TKG2d TKShHealing TKTopAlgo TKMesh TKPrim TKBool TKBO TKFillet TKSTEP TKSTEPBase TKSTEPAttr TKXSBase TKSTEP209 TKIGES TKOffset ${ICU_LIBRARIES})
 
 # Build python wrapper using separate CMakeLists.txt
 ADD_SUBDIRECTORY(../src/ifcwrap ifcwrap)
diff --git a/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/__init__.py b/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/__init__.py
index 388581942b..eb14ece33a 100644
--- a/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/__init__.py
+++ b/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/__init__.py
@@ -82,6 +82,9 @@ class entity_instance(object):
 			attr_type = self.attribute_type(idx).title().replace(' ', '')
 			attr_type = attr_type.replace('Binary', 'String')
 			attr_type = attr_type.replace('Enumeration', 'String')
+			try:
+				if isinstance(value, unicode): value = value.encode("utf-8")
+			except: pass
 			getattr(self.wrapped_data, "setArgumentAs%s" % attr_type)(idx, entity_instance.unwrap_value(value))
 		return value
 	def __len__(self): return len(self.wrapped_data)
diff --git a/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.cpp b/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.cpp
index c3eeb186d7..a3aad64c1e 100644
--- a/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.cpp
+++ b/src/ifcparse/IfcCharacterDecoder.cpp
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ UErrorCode IfcCharacterDecoder::status = U_ZERO_ERROR;
 #endif
 
 #ifdef HAVE_ICU
-IfcCharacterDecoder::ConversionMode IfcCharacterDecoder::mode = IfcCharacterDecoder::JSON;
+IfcCharacterDecoder::ConversionMode IfcCharacterDecoder::mode = IfcCharacterDecoder::UTF8;
 
 // Many BIM software (eg. Revit, ArchiCAD, ...) has wrong behavior  
 bool IfcCharacterDecoder::compatibility_mode = false;
diff --git a/src/ifcwrap/CMakeLists.txt b/src/ifcwrap/CMakeLists.txt
index ba87b658c9..a5a2f36e22 100644
--- a/src/ifcwrap/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/ifcwrap/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ SET(CMAKE_SWIG_FLAGS "")
 
 SET_SOURCE_FILES_PROPERTIES(IfcPython.i PROPERTIES CPLUSPLUS ON)
 SWIG_ADD_MODULE(ifcopenshell_wrapper python IfcPython.i)
-SWIG_LINK_LIBRARIES(ifcopenshell_wrapper ${PYTHON_LIBRARIES} IfcParse IfcGeom TKernel TKMath TKBRep TKGeomBase TKGeomAlgo TKG3d TKG2d TKShHealing TKTopAlgo TKMesh TKPrim TKBool TKBO TKFillet TKOffset)
+SWIG_LINK_LIBRARIES(ifcopenshell_wrapper ${PYTHON_LIBRARIES} IfcParse IfcGeom TKernel TKMath TKBRep TKGeomBase TKGeomAlgo TKG3d TKG2d TKShHealing TKTopAlgo TKMesh TKPrim TKBool TKBO TKFillet TKOffset ${ICU_LIBRARIES})
 
 # To install IfcPython let's get the site-packages dir from python
 EXECUTE_PROCESS(COMMAND python -c "import sys; from distutils.sysconfig import get_python_lib; sys.stdout.write(get_python_lib())"
diff --git a/src/ifcwrap/utils/type_conversion.i b/src/ifcwrap/utils/type_conversion.i
index 1f83559a5f..6c739033d7 100644
--- a/src/ifcwrap/utils/type_conversion.i
+++ b/src/ifcwrap/utils/type_conversion.i
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@
 	PyObject* pythonize(const unsigned int& t)          { return PyInt_FromLong(t);                                                                  }
 	PyObject* pythonize(const bool& t)                  { return PyBool_FromLong(t);                                                                 }
 	PyObject* pythonize(const double& t)                { return PyFloat_FromDouble(t);                                                              }
-	PyObject* pythonize(const std::string& t)           { return PyString_FromString(t.c_str());                                                     }
+	PyObject* pythonize(const std::string& t)           { return PyUnicode_FromString(t.c_str());                                                    }
 	PyObject* pythonize(const IfcUtil::IfcBaseClass* t) { return SWIG_NewPointerObj(SWIG_as_voidptr(t), SWIGTYPE_p_IfcParse__IfcLateBoundEntity, 0); }
 	// NB: This cannot be temporary as a Python object is constructed from a pointer to the address of this object
 	PyObject* pythonize(const IfcGeom::Material& t)     { return SWIG_NewPointerObj(SWIG_as_voidptr(&t), SWIGTYPE_p_IfcGeom__Material, 0);           }