diff --git a/src/de/mod.rs b/src/de/mod.rs
index 6585a589..b10f12c0 100644
--- a/src/de/mod.rs
+++ b/src/de/mod.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 //! Generic deserialization framework.
 
-use std::str;
-
 pub mod impls;
 pub mod value;
 
@@ -204,10 +202,9 @@ pub trait Visitor {
     fn visit_char<E>(&mut self, v: char) -> Result<Self::Value, E>
         where E: Error,
     {
-        // The unwraps in here should be safe.
-        let mut s = &mut [0; 4];
-        let len = v.encode_utf8(s).unwrap();
-        self.visit_str(str::from_utf8(&s[..len]).unwrap())
+        // FIXME: this allocation is required in order to be compatible with stable rust, which
+        // doesn't support encoding a `char` into a stack buffer.
+        self.visit_string(v.to_string())
     }
 
     fn visit_str<E>(&mut self, _v: &str) -> Result<Self::Value, E>
diff --git a/src/json/de.rs b/src/json/de.rs
index c966e668..f1653d33 100644
--- a/src/json/de.rs
+++ b/src/json/de.rs
@@ -2,8 +2,6 @@ use std::char;
 use std::io;
 use std::str;
 
-use unicode::str::Utf16Item;
-
 use de;
 use super::error::{Error, ErrorCode};
 
@@ -345,35 +343,44 @@ impl<Iter> Deserializer<Iter>
                             // Non-BMP characters are encoded as a sequence of
                             // two hex escapes, representing UTF-16 surrogates.
                             n1 @ 0xD800 ... 0xDBFF => {
-                                let c1 = try!(self.next_char());
-                                let c2 = try!(self.next_char());
-                                match (c1, c2) {
+                                match (try!(self.next_char()), try!(self.next_char())) {
                                     (Some(b'\\'), Some(b'u')) => (),
                                     _ => {
                                         return Err(self.error(ErrorCode::UnexpectedEndOfHexEscape));
                                     }
                                 }
 
-                                let buf = &[n1, try!(self.decode_hex_escape())];
-                                match ::unicode::str::utf16_items(buf).next() {
-                                    Some(Utf16Item::ScalarValue(c)) => c,
-                                    _ => {
-                                        return Err(self.error(ErrorCode::LoneLeadingSurrogateInHexEscape));
+                                let n2 = try!(self.decode_hex_escape());
+
+                                if n2 < 0xDC00 || n2 > 0xDFFF {
+                                    return Err(self.error(ErrorCode::LoneLeadingSurrogateInHexEscape));
+                                }
+
+                                let n = (((n1 - 0xD800) as u32) << 10 |
+                                          (n2 - 0xDC00) as u32) + 0x1_0000;
+
+                                match char::from_u32(n as u32) {
+                                    Some(c) => c,
+                                    None => {
+                                        return Err(self.error(ErrorCode::InvalidUnicodeCodePoint));
                                     }
                                 }
                             }
 
-                            n => match char::from_u32(n as u32) {
-                                Some(c) => c,
-                                None => {
-                                    return Err(self.error(ErrorCode::InvalidUnicodeCodePoint));
+                            n => {
+                                match char::from_u32(n as u32) {
+                                    Some(c) => c,
+                                    None => {
+                                        return Err(self.error(ErrorCode::InvalidUnicodeCodePoint));
+                                    }
                                 }
                             }
                         };
 
-                        let buf = &mut [0; 4];
-                        let len = c.encode_utf8(buf).unwrap_or(0);
-                        self.str_buf.extend(buf[..len].iter().map(|b| *b));
+                        // FIXME: this allocation is required in order to be compatible with stable
+                        // rust, which doesn't support encoding a `char` into a stack buffer.
+                        let buf = c.to_string();
+                        self.str_buf.extend(buf.bytes());
                     }
                     _ => {
                         return Err(self.error(ErrorCode::InvalidEscape));
diff --git a/src/json/ser.rs b/src/json/ser.rs
index 85133a6c..54c57726 100644
--- a/src/json/ser.rs
+++ b/src/json/ser.rs
@@ -386,9 +386,9 @@ pub fn escape_str<W>(wr: &mut W, value: &str) -> io::Result<()>
 fn escape_char<W>(wr: &mut W, value: char) -> io::Result<()>
     where W: io::Write
 {
-    let buf = &mut [0; 4];
-    value.encode_utf8(buf);
-    escape_bytes(wr, buf)
+    // FIXME: this allocation is required in order to be compatible with stable
+    // rust, which doesn't support encoding a `char` into a stack buffer.
+    escape_bytes(wr, value.to_string().as_bytes())
 }
 
 fn fmt_f32_or_null<W>(wr: &mut W, value: f32) -> io::Result<()>
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 6abdd4e8..f5de433c 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -6,9 +6,8 @@
 //! leaving serde to perform roughly the same speed as a hand written serializer for a specific
 //! type.
 
-#![feature(collections, core, std_misc, unicode)]
+#![feature(collections, core, std_misc)]
 
-extern crate unicode;
 
 pub use ser::{Serialize, Serializer};
 pub use de::{Deserialize, Deserializer, Error};
diff --git a/src/ser/mod.rs b/src/ser/mod.rs
index 88ad6af4..5c317398 100644
--- a/src/ser/mod.rs
+++ b/src/ser/mod.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 //! Generic serialization framework.
 
-use std::str;
-
 pub mod impls;
 
 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
@@ -97,10 +95,9 @@ pub trait Serializer {
     /// single character.
     #[inline]
     fn visit_char(&mut self, v: char) -> Result<(), Self::Error> {
-        // The unwraps in here should be safe.
-        let mut s = &mut [0; 4];
-        let len = v.encode_utf8(s).unwrap();
-        self.visit_str(str::from_utf8(&s[..len]).unwrap())
+        // FIXME: this allocation is required in order to be compatible with stable rust, which
+        // doesn't support encoding a `char` into a stack buffer.
+        self.visit_str(&v.to_string())
     }
 
     /// `visit_str` serializes a `&str`.