diff --git a/src/azure/__init__.py b/src/azure/__init__.py
index bb0f4ad116c8..e23bd9069fc3 100644
--- a/src/azure/__init__.py
+++ b/src/azure/__init__.py
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ def _convert_response_to_feeds(response, convert_func):
         xml_entries = _get_children_from_path(xmldoc, 'entry') #in some cases, response contains only entry but no feed
     for xml_entry in xml_entries:
         new_node = _clone_node_with_namespaces(xml_entry, xmldoc)
-        feeds.append(convert_func(new_node.toxml()))
+        feeds.append(convert_func(new_node.toxml('utf-8')))
 
     return feeds
 
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ def _validate_not_none(param_name, param):
 
 def _fill_list_of(xmldoc, element_type):
     xmlelements = _get_child_nodes(xmldoc, element_type.__name__)
-    return [_parse_response_body(xmlelement.toxml(), element_type) for xmlelement in xmlelements]
+    return [_parse_response_body(xmlelement.toxml('utf-8'), element_type) for xmlelement in xmlelements]
 
 def _fill_dict(xmldoc, element_name):    
     xmlelements = _get_child_nodes(xmldoc, element_name)
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ def _fill_instance_child(xmldoc, element_name, return_type):
 
 def _fill_instance_element(element, return_type):
     """Converts a DOM element into the specified object""" 
-    return _parse_response_body(element.toxml(), return_type)
+    return _parse_response_body(element.toxml('utf-8'), return_type)
 
 
 def _fill_data_minidom(xmldoc, element_name, data_member):
diff --git a/src/azure/storage/__init__.py b/src/azure/storage/__init__.py
index 85767d895789..73eccc93b2f2 100644
--- a/src/azure/storage/__init__.py
+++ b/src/azure/storage/__init__.py
@@ -564,6 +564,9 @@ def convert_entity_to_xml(source):
                 properties_str += ''.join([' m:type="', mtype, '"'])
             properties_str += ''.join(['>', xml_escape(value), '</d:', name, '>'])
 
+    if isinstance(properties_str, unicode):
+        properties_str = properties_str.encode(encoding='utf-8')
+
     #generate the entity_body
     entity_body = entity_body.format(properties=properties_str)
     xmlstr = _create_entry(entity_body)
diff --git a/test/azuretest/test_tableservice.py b/test/azuretest/test_tableservice.py
index 009304cd27d8..3c29c15e2c06 100644
--- a/test/azuretest/test_tableservice.py
+++ b/test/azuretest/test_tableservice.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#-------------------------------------------------------------------------
+#-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Copyright 2011 Microsoft Corporation
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 from azure.storage import EntityProperty, Entity, StorageServiceProperties
 from azure import WindowsAzureError
 
-
 from azuretest.util import (credentials, 
                             getUniqueTestRunID,
                             STATUS_OK,
@@ -1039,8 +1038,18 @@ def test_batch_different_table_operations_fail(self):
 
         self.tc.cancel_batch()
 
+    def test_unicode_xml_encoding(self):
+        ''' regression test for github issue #57'''
+        # Act
+        self._create_table(self.table_name)
+        self.tc.insert_entity(self.table_name, {'PartitionKey': 'test', 'RowKey': 'test1', 'Description': u'ꀕ'}) 
+        self.tc.insert_entity(self.table_name, {'PartitionKey': 'test', 'RowKey': 'test2', 'Description': 'ꀕ'})        
+        resp = self.tc.query_entities(self.table_name, "PartitionKey eq 'test'")   
         # Assert
-
+        self.assertEquals(len(resp), 2)
+        self.assertEquals(resp[0].Description, u'ꀕ')
+        self.assertEquals(resp[1].Description, u'ꀕ')
+        
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()