diff --git a/django/db/models/base.py b/django/db/models/base.py
index c6233f36dc..ebc4461359 100644
--- a/django/db/models/base.py
+++ b/django/db/models/base.py
@@ -86,6 +86,8 @@ class Model(object):
         return '<%s: %s>' % (self.__class__.__name__, self)
 
     def __str__(self):
+        if hasattr(self, '__unicode__'):
+            return unicode(self).encode('utf-8')
         return '%s object' % self.__class__.__name__
 
     def __eq__(self, other):
diff --git a/tests/modeltests/str/models.py b/tests/modeltests/str/models.py
index 81230d538c..a700daddcc 100644
--- a/tests/modeltests/str/models.py
+++ b/tests/modeltests/str/models.py
@@ -1,11 +1,15 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 """
-2. Adding __str__() to models
+2. Adding __str__() or __unicode__() to models
 
 Although it's not a strict requirement, each model should have a ``__str__()``
 method to return a "human-readable" representation of the object. Do this not
 only for your own sanity when dealing with the interactive prompt, but also
 because objects' representations are used throughout Django's
 automatically-generated admin.
+
+For international applications, you should write ``__unicode__``() method
+instead.
 """
 
 from django.db import models
@@ -17,7 +21,14 @@ class Article(models.Model):
     def __str__(self):
         return self.headline
 
-__test__ = {'API_TESTS':"""
+class InternationalArticle(models.Model):
+    headline = models.CharField(maxlength=100)
+    pub_date = models.DateTimeField()
+
+    def __unicode__(self):
+        return self.headline
+
+__test__ = {'API_TESTS':ur"""
 # Create an Article.
 >>> from datetime import datetime
 >>> a = Article(headline='Area man programs in Python', pub_date=datetime(2005, 7, 28))
@@ -28,4 +39,10 @@ __test__ = {'API_TESTS':"""
 
 >>> a
 <Article: Area man programs in Python>
+
+>>> a1 = InternationalArticle(headline=u'Girl wins €12.500 in lottery', pub_date=datetime(2005, 7, 28))
+
+# The default str() output will be the UTF-8 encoded output of __unicode__().
+>>> str(a1)
+'Girl wins \xe2\x82\xac12.500 in lottery'
 """}