diff --git a/CHANGELOG.txt b/CHANGELOG.txt
index 12777372f5..37e765c715 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.txt
+++ b/CHANGELOG.txt
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ Changelog
  * Fix: Ordering pages in the explorer by reverse 'last updated' time now puts pages with no revisions at the top
  * Fix: WagtailTestUtils now works correctly on custom user models without a ``username`` field (Adam Bolfik)
  * Fix: Logging in to the admin as a user with valid credentials but no admin access permission now displays an error message, rather than rejecting the user silently
+ * Fix: StreamBlock HTML rendering now handles non-ASCII characters correctly on Python 2 (Mikalai Radchuk)
 
 1.3.1 (05.01.2016)
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.4.rst b/docs/releases/1.4.rst
index 9ade13743a..cc77b5327f 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.4.rst
+++ b/docs/releases/1.4.rst
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ Bug fixes
  * Ordering pages in the explorer by reverse 'last updated' time now puts pages with no revisions at the top
  * WagtailTestUtils now works correctly on custom user models without a ``username`` field (Adam Bolfik)
  * Logging in to the admin as a user with valid credentials but no admin access permission now displays an error message, rather than rejecting the user silently
+* StreamBlock HTML rendering now handles non-ASCII characters correctly on Python 2 (Mikalai Radchuk)
 
 
 Upgrade considerations
diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailcore/blocks/stream_block.py b/wagtail/wagtailcore/blocks/stream_block.py
index 785d869d27..c4d0fc4fd8 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailcore/blocks/stream_block.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailcore/blocks/stream_block.py
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ class StreamValue(collections.Sequence):
         return repr(list(self))
 
     def __html__(self):
-        return self.__str__()
+        return self.stream_block.render(self)
 
     def __str__(self):
-        return self.stream_block.render(self)
+        return self.__html__()
diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailcore/tests/test_streamfield.py b/wagtail/wagtailcore/tests/test_streamfield.py
index 57b4bbc73b..b80d5d6438 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailcore/tests/test_streamfield.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailcore/tests/test_streamfield.py
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
 import json
 
 from django.apps import apps
@@ -141,12 +144,14 @@ class TestStreamFieldRenderingBase(TestCase):
 
         self.instance = StreamModel.objects.create(body=json.dumps([
             {'type': 'rich_text', 'value': '<p>Rich text</p>'},
+            {'type': 'rich_text', 'value': '<p>Привет, Микола</p>'},
             {'type': 'image', 'value': self.image.pk},
             {'type': 'text', 'value': 'Hello, World!'}]))
 
         img_tag = self.image.get_rendition('original').img_tag()
         self.expected = ''.join([
             '<div class="block-rich_text"><div class="rich-text"><p>Rich text</p></div></div>',
+            '<div class="block-rich_text"><div class="rich-text"><p>Привет, Микола</p></div></div>',
             '<div class="block-image">{}</div>'.format(img_tag),
             '<div class="block-text">Hello, World!</div>',
         ])
@@ -158,6 +163,11 @@ class TestStreamFieldRendering(TestStreamFieldRenderingBase):
         self.assertHTMLEqual(rendered, self.expected)
         self.assertIsInstance(rendered, SafeText)
 
+    def test___html___access(self):
+        rendered = self.instance.body.__html__()
+        self.assertHTMLEqual(rendered, self.expected)
+        self.assertIsInstance(rendered, SafeText)
+
 
 class TestStreamFieldDjangoRendering(TestStreamFieldRenderingBase):
     def render(self, string, context):