title: Incorrect displaying of russian characters in Python / Django
body: <p>I am trying to parse a russian website using lxml. However ,I got an issue with displaying russian characters, that i am unable to overcome myself.</p>
  
  <p>Let's take this html piece for example:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;a href="http://www.2do2go.ru/msk/events/41600/kvest-v-realnosti-karty-dengi-dva-stola" class="medium-events-list_link"&gt;Квест в реальности «Карты, деньги, два стола»&lt;/a&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I am using this piece to parse it:</p>
  
  <pre><code>title = root.xpath('//*[@id="event-id-41600"]/div[3]/div[2]/a/text()')[0].encode('utf-8').strip()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and this is what i get:</p>
  
  <pre><code>├É┬Ü├É┬▓├É┬Á├Ĺ┬ü├Ĺ┬é ├É┬▓ ├Ĺ┬Ç├É┬Á├É┬░├É┬╗├Ĺ┬î├É┬Ż├É┬ż├Ĺ┬ü├Ĺ┬é├É┬Ş ├é┬ź├É┬Ü├É┬░├Ĺ┬Ç├Ĺ┬é├Ĺ┬ő, ├É┬┤├É┬Á├É┬Ż├Ĺ┬î├É┬│├É┬Ş, ├É┬┤├É┬▓├É┬░ ├Ĺ┬ü├Ĺ┬é├É┬ż├É┬╗├É┬░├é┬╗
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In database however instead of cyrillic i see this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>ÐÐ²ÐµÑÑ Ð² ÑÐµÐ°Ð»ÑÐ½Ð¾ÑÑÐ¸ Â«ÐÐ°ÑÑÑ, Ð´ÐµÐ½ÑÐ³Ð¸, Ð´Ð²Ð° ÑÑÐ¾Ð»Ð°Â»
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Oh and btw for reference:</p>
  
  <p>this piece:</p>
  
  <pre><code>title = item.xpath('div[3]/div[2]/a')[0]
  print etree.tostring(title)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>returns me this :</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;a href="http://www.2do2go.ru/msk/events/41600/kvest-v-realnosti-karty-dengi-dva-stola" class="medium-events-list_link"&gt;&amp;#208;&amp;#154;&amp;#208;&amp;#178;&amp;#208;&amp;#181;&amp;#209;&amp;#129;&amp;#209;&amp;#130; &amp;#208;&amp;#178; &amp;#209;&amp;#128;&amp;#208;&amp;#181;&amp;#208;&amp;#176;&amp;#208;&amp;#187;&amp;#209;&amp;#140;&amp;#208;&amp;#189;&amp;#208;&amp;#190;&amp;#209;&amp;#129;&amp;#209;&amp;#130;&amp;#208;&amp;#184; &amp;#194;&amp;#171;&amp;#208;&amp;#154;&amp;#208;&amp;#176;&amp;#209;&amp;#128;&amp;#209;&amp;#130;&amp;#209;&amp;#139;, &amp;#208;&amp;#180;&amp;#208;&amp;#181;&amp;#208;&amp;#189;&amp;#209;&amp;#140;&amp;#208;&amp;#179;&amp;#208;&amp;#184;, &amp;#208;&amp;#180;&amp;#208;&amp;#178;&amp;#208;&amp;#176; &amp;#209;&amp;#129;&amp;#209;&amp;#130;&amp;#208;&amp;#190;&amp;#208;&amp;#187;&amp;#208;&amp;#176;&amp;#194;&amp;#187;&lt;/a&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Not sure if it is database related of something to do with python encoding. Any help appreciated :)</p>
  
  <p>Thanks in advance.</p>
  
  <p>EDIT: i am using MySQL and Django ORM</p>
  
  <p>Django settings:</p>
  
  <pre><code>DATABASE_OPTIONS = {
    "charset": "utf8_general_ci",
    "init_command": "SET storage_engine=INNODB"
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Webpage :</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;!DOCTYPE html&gt;
  &lt;html lang="en" prefix="og: http://ogp.me/ns#" class=""&gt;
      &lt;head&gt;
          &lt;title&gt;Интересные события в Москве в январе  - феврале 2016&lt;/title&gt;
          &lt;meta charset="utf-8"&gt;
  </code></pre>