https://github.com/tseaver/markupsafe/commit/553d9c3ba00e89967dfb608806f5703ef11c3f4c
diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 91a61c5..ec98481 100644
diff --git a/markupsafe/__init__.py b/markupsafe/__init__.py
index 25f00d3..902b2b2 100644
--- a/markupsafe/__init__.py
+++ b/markupsafe/__init__.py
@@ -10,12 +10,11 @@
 """
 import re
 from markupsafe._compat import text_type, string_types, int_types, \
-     unichr, PY2
+     unichr, PY2, _EMPTY, _BLANK
 
 
 __all__ = ['Markup', 'soft_unicode', 'escape', 'escape_silent']
 
-
 _striptags_re = re.compile(r'(<!--.*?-->|<[^>]*>)')
 _entity_re = re.compile(r'&([^;]+);')
 
@@ -65,7 +64,7 @@ class Markup(text_type):
     """
     __slots__ = ()
 
-    def __new__(cls, base=u'', encoding=None, errors='strict'):
+    def __new__(cls, base=_EMPTY, encoding=None, errors='strict'):
         if hasattr(base, '__html__'):
             base = base.__html__()
         if encoding is None:
@@ -139,7 +138,7 @@ def handle_match(m):
                     return unichr(int(name[1:]))
             except ValueError:
                 pass
-            return u''
+            return _EMPTY
         return _entity_re.sub(handle_match, text_type(self))
 
     def striptags(self):
@@ -150,7 +149,7 @@ def striptags(self):
         >>> Markup("Main &raquo;  <em>About</em>").striptags()
         u'Main \xbb About'
         """
-        stripped = u' '.join(_striptags_re.sub('', self).split())
+        stripped = _BLANK.join(_striptags_re.sub('', self).split())
         return Markup(stripped).unescape()
 
     @classmethod
diff --git a/markupsafe/_compat.py b/markupsafe/_compat.py
index 29e4a3d..0cc647e 100644
--- a/markupsafe/_compat.py
+++ b/markupsafe/_compat.py
@@ -17,8 +17,18 @@
     string_types = (str,)
     unichr = chr
     int_types = (int,)
+
+    def _u(s):
+        return s
+
 else:
     text_type = unicode
     string_types = (str, unicode)
     unichr = unichr
     int_types = (int, long)
+
+    def _u(s):
+        return unicode(s, 'unicode_escape')
+
+_EMPTY = _u('')
+_BLANK = _u(' ')
diff --git a/markupsafe/tests.py b/markupsafe/tests.py
index b34cc6e..f2f71a4 100644
--- a/markupsafe/tests.py
+++ b/markupsafe/tests.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 import gc
 import unittest
 from markupsafe import Markup, escape, escape_silent
-from markupsafe._compat import text_type
+from markupsafe._compat import text_type, _u
 
 
 class MarkupTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -48,16 +48,16 @@ def test_tuple_interpol(self):
         self.assertEqual(Markup('<em>%s:%s</em>') % (
             '<foo>',
             '<bar>',
-        ), Markup(u'<em>&lt;foo&gt;:&lt;bar&gt;</em>'))
+        ), Markup(_u('<em>&lt;foo&gt;:&lt;bar&gt;</em>')))
 
     def test_dict_interpol(self):
         self.assertEqual(Markup('<em>%(foo)s</em>') % {
             'foo': '<foo>',
-        }, Markup(u'<em>&lt;foo&gt;</em>'))
+        }, Markup(_u('<em>&lt;foo&gt;</em>')))
         self.assertEqual(Markup('<em>%(foo)s:%(bar)s</em>') % {
             'foo': '<foo>',
             'bar': '<bar>',
-        }, Markup(u'<em>&lt;foo&gt;:&lt;bar&gt;</em>'))
+        }, Markup(_u('<em>&lt;foo&gt;:&lt;bar&gt;</em>')))
 
     def test_escaping(self):
         # escaping and unescaping
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ def test_all_set(self):
     def test_escape_silent(self):
         assert escape_silent(None) == Markup()
         assert escape(None) == Markup(None)
-        assert escape_silent('<foo>') == Markup(u'&lt;foo&gt;')
+        assert escape_silent('<foo>') == Markup(_u('&lt;foo&gt;'))
 
     def test_splitting(self):
         self.assertEqual(Markup('a b').split(), [
@@ -101,8 +101,8 @@ def test_markup_leaks(self):
             for item in range(1000):
                 escape("foo")
                 escape("<foo>")
-                escape(u"foo")
-                escape(u"<foo>")
+                escape(_u("foo"))
+                escape(_u("<foo>"))
             counts.add(len(gc.get_objects()))
         assert len(counts) == 1, 'ouch, c extension seems to leak objects'
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index a5ca3ef..cac6084 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -81,7 +81,12 @@ def run_setup(with_binary):
             'License :: OSI Approved :: BSD License',
             'Operating System :: OS Independent',
             'Programming Language :: Python',
+            'Programming Language :: Python :: 2',
+            'Programming Language :: Python :: 2.6',
+            'Programming Language :: Python :: 2.7',
             'Programming Language :: Python :: 3',
+            'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.2',
+            'Programming Language :: Python :: 3.3',
             'Topic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP :: Dynamic Content',
             'Topic :: Software Development :: Libraries :: Python Modules',
             'Topic :: Text Processing :: Markup :: HTML'