diff --git a/src/plugins/spit/qgsshapefile.cpp b/src/plugins/spit/qgsshapefile.cpp
index 54cbcfb3ad2..8ed781a8950 100644
--- a/src/plugins/spit/qgsshapefile.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/spit/qgsshapefile.cpp
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 #include <QProgressDialog>
 #include <QString>
 #include <QLabel>
+#include <QTextCodec>
 
 #include "qgsdbfbase.h"
 #include "cpl_error.h"
@@ -42,7 +43,7 @@
 #endif    
 
 
-QgsShapeFile::QgsShapeFile(QString name){
+QgsShapeFile::QgsShapeFile(QString name, QString encoding){
   filename = name;
   features = 0;
   OGRRegisterAll();
@@ -58,6 +59,10 @@ QgsShapeFile::QgsShapeFile(QString name){
   // init the geometry types
   geometries << "NULL" << "POINT" << "LINESTRING" << "POLYGON" << "MULTPOINT" 
     << "MULTILINESTRING" << "MULTIPOLYGON" << "GEOMETRYCOLLECTION";
+  
+  codec = QTextCodec::codecForName(encoding.toLocal8Bit().data());
+  if (!codec)
+    codec = QTextCodec::codecForLocale();
 }
 
 QgsShapeFile::~QgsShapeFile(){
@@ -207,7 +212,10 @@ QString QgsShapeFile::getFeatureClass(){
       dbf.close();
       int numFields = feat->GetFieldCount();
       for(int n=0; n<numFields; n++)
-        column_names.push_back(feat->GetFieldDefnRef(n)->GetNameRef());
+      {
+        QString s = codec->toUnicode(feat->GetFieldDefnRef(n)->GetNameRef());
+        column_names.push_back(s);
+      }
       
     }else valid = false;
     delete feat;
@@ -342,21 +350,22 @@ bool QgsShapeFile::insertLayer(QString dbname, QString schema, QString geom_col,
           query += quotes;
 
           // escape the string value
-          QString val = feat->GetFieldAsString(n);
-          char * esc_str = new char[val.length()*2+1];
-          PQescapeString(esc_str, (const char *)val.lower(), val.length());
+          QString val = codec->toUnicode(feat->GetFieldAsString(n));
+          val.replace("'", "''");
+          //char * esc_str = new char[val.length()*2+1];
+          //PQescapeString(esc_str, (const char *)val.lower().utf8(), val.length());
 
           // add escaped value to the query 
-          query += esc_str;
+          query += val; //esc_str;
           query += QString(quotes + ", ");
 
-          delete[] esc_str;
+          //delete[] esc_str;
         }
         query += QString("GeometryFromText(\'")+geometry+QString("\', ")+srid+QString("))");
     //    std::cerr << query << std::endl; 
 
         if(result)
-          res = PQexec(conn, (const char *)query);
+          res = PQexec(conn, (const char *)query.utf8());
         if(PQresultStatus(res)!=PGRES_COMMAND_OK){
           // flag error and send query and error message to stdout on debug
           result = false;
diff --git a/src/plugins/spit/qgsshapefile.h b/src/plugins/spit/qgsshapefile.h
index 17925b6cd62..4041e5e1c13 100644
--- a/src/plugins/spit/qgsshapefile.h
+++ b/src/plugins/spit/qgsshapefile.h
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #include <ogrsf_frmts.h>
 
 class QProgressDialog;
+class QTextCodec;
 
 class OGRLayer;
 class OGRDataSource;
@@ -40,7 +41,7 @@ class QgsShapeFile : public QObject
   Q_OBJECT
   public:
 
-  QgsShapeFile(QString filename);
+  QgsShapeFile(QString filename, QString encoding = QString());
   ~QgsShapeFile();
   int getFeatureCount();
   QString getFeatureClass();
@@ -69,6 +70,7 @@ class QgsShapeFile : public QObject
   QString filename;
   QString geom_type;
   QStringList geometries;
+  QTextCodec* codec;
 
   public slots:
   void cancelImport();
diff --git a/src/plugins/spit/qgsspit.cpp b/src/plugins/spit/qgsspit.cpp
index f63a97cc2b5..c4bfd45cc4f 100644
--- a/src/plugins/spit/qgsspit.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/spit/qgsspit.cpp
@@ -25,8 +25,11 @@
 #include <QSettings>
 #include <QPixmap>
 #include <QHeaderView>
+#include <QTextCodec>
 
 #include <iostream>
+    
+#include "qgsencodingfiledialog.h"
 
 #include "qgspgutil.h"
 #include "qgsspit.h"
@@ -158,15 +161,23 @@ void QgsSpit::addFile()
   bool is_error = false;
   QSettings settings("QuantumGIS", "qgis");
 
-  QStringList files = QFileDialog::getOpenFileNames(this,
+  QgsEncodingFileDialog dlg(this,
                         tr("Add Shapefiles"),
                         settings.readEntry( "/Plugin-Spit/last_directory" ),
-                        tr("Shapefiles (*.shp);;All files (*.*)") );
+                        tr("Shapefiles (*.shp);;All files (*.*)"),
+                        settings.readEntry( "/Plugin-Spit/last_encoding" ) );
+  dlg.setMode(QFileDialog::ExistingFiles);
+  
+  if (dlg.exec() != QDialog::Accepted)
+    return;
+  QStringList files = dlg.selectedFiles();
+
   if ( files.size() > 0 )
   {
     // Save the directory for future use
     QFileInfo fi( files[ 0 ] );
     settings.writeEntry( "/Plugin-Spit/last_directory", fi.dirPath( true ) );
+    settings.writeEntry( "/Plugin-Spit/last_encoding", dlg.encoding());
   }
   // Process the files
   for ( QStringList::Iterator it = files.begin(); it != files.end(); ++it )
@@ -197,7 +208,7 @@ void QgsSpit::addFile()
 
       if ( !is_error )
       {
-        QgsShapeFile * file = new QgsShapeFile( name );
+        QgsShapeFile * file = new QgsShapeFile( name, dlg.encoding() );
         if ( file->is_valid() )
         {
           /* XXX getFeatureClass actually does a whole bunch
@@ -426,6 +437,17 @@ PGconn* QgsSpit::checkConnection()
       QMessageBox::warning( this, tr("Import Shapefiles"), tr("Connection failed - Check settings and try again") );
       result = false;
     }
+  
+    int errcode = PQsetClientEncoding(pd, "UNICODE");
+#ifdef QGISDEBUG
+    if(errcode==0)
+      qWarning("encoding successfully set");
+    else if(errcode==-1)
+      qWarning("error in setting encoding");
+    else
+      qWarning("undefined return value from encoding setting");
+#endif
+  
   }
 
   if (result )