diff --git a/lib/hs/src/Thrift.hs b/lib/hs/src/Thrift.hs
index e57cff5..42f5d32 100644
--- a/lib/hs/src/Thrift.hs
+++ b/lib/hs/src/Thrift.hs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 {-# LANGUAGE DeriveDataTypeable #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE KindSignatures #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE RankNTypes #-}
 --
 -- Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@
 import Control.Monad ( when )
 import Control.Exception
 
+import Data.Text.Lazy ( pack, unpack )
 import Data.Typeable ( Typeable )
 
 import Thrift.Transport
@@ -84,7 +86,7 @@
 
     when (ae_message ae /= "") $ do
         writeFieldBegin pt ("message", T_STRING , 1)
-        writeString pt (ae_message ae)
+        writeString pt (pack $ ae_message ae)
         writeFieldEnd pt
 
     writeFieldBegin pt ("type", T_I32, 2);
@@ -108,7 +110,7 @@
         else case tag of
                  1 -> if ft == T_STRING then
                           do s <- readString pt
-                             readAppExnFields pt record{ae_message = s}
+                             readAppExnFields pt record{ae_message = unpack s}
                           else do skip pt ft
                                   readAppExnFields pt record
                  2 -> if ft == T_I32 then
diff --git a/lib/hs/src/Thrift/Protocol.hs b/lib/hs/src/Thrift/Protocol.hs
index 1a31932..f3b342a 100644
--- a/lib/hs/src/Thrift/Protocol.hs
+++ b/lib/hs/src/Thrift/Protocol.hs
@@ -29,9 +29,10 @@
 
 import Control.Monad ( replicateM_, unless )
 import Control.Exception
-import Data.Int
-import Data.Typeable ( Typeable )
 import Data.ByteString.Lazy
+import Data.Int
+import Data.Text.Lazy ( Text )
+import Data.Typeable ( Typeable )
 
 import Thrift.Transport
 
@@ -102,12 +103,12 @@
 class Protocol a where
     getTransport :: Transport t => a t -> t
 
-    writeMessageBegin :: Transport t => a t -> (String, MessageType, Int32) -> IO ()
+    writeMessageBegin :: Transport t => a t -> (Text, MessageType, Int32) -> IO ()
     writeMessageEnd   :: Transport t => a t -> IO ()
 
-    writeStructBegin :: Transport t => a t -> String -> IO ()
+    writeStructBegin :: Transport t => a t -> Text -> IO ()
     writeStructEnd   :: Transport t => a t -> IO ()
-    writeFieldBegin  :: Transport t => a t -> (String, ThriftType, Int16) -> IO ()
+    writeFieldBegin  :: Transport t => a t -> (Text, ThriftType, Int16) -> IO ()
     writeFieldEnd    :: Transport t => a t -> IO ()
     writeFieldStop   :: Transport t => a t -> IO ()
     writeMapBegin    :: Transport t => a t -> (ThriftType, ThriftType, Int32) -> IO ()
@@ -123,16 +124,16 @@
     writeI32    :: Transport t => a t -> Int32 -> IO ()
     writeI64    :: Transport t => a t -> Int64 -> IO ()
     writeDouble :: Transport t => a t -> Double -> IO ()
-    writeString :: Transport t => a t -> String -> IO ()
+    writeString :: Transport t => a t -> Text -> IO ()
     writeBinary :: Transport t => a t -> ByteString -> IO ()
 
 
-    readMessageBegin :: Transport t => a t -> IO (String, MessageType, Int32)
+    readMessageBegin :: Transport t => a t -> IO (Text, MessageType, Int32)
     readMessageEnd   :: Transport t => a t -> IO ()
 
-    readStructBegin :: Transport t => a t -> IO String
+    readStructBegin :: Transport t => a t -> IO Text
     readStructEnd   :: Transport t => a t -> IO ()
-    readFieldBegin  :: Transport t => a t -> IO (String, ThriftType, Int16)
+    readFieldBegin  :: Transport t => a t -> IO (Text, ThriftType, Int16)
     readFieldEnd    :: Transport t => a t -> IO ()
     readMapBegin    :: Transport t => a t -> IO (ThriftType, ThriftType, Int32)
     readMapEnd      :: Transport t => a t -> IO ()
@@ -147,7 +148,7 @@
     readI32    :: Transport t => a t -> IO Int32
     readI64    :: Transport t => a t -> IO Int64
     readDouble :: Transport t => a t -> IO Double
-    readString :: Transport t => a t -> IO String
+    readString :: Transport t => a t -> IO Text
     readBinary :: Transport t => a t -> IO ByteString
 
 
diff --git a/lib/hs/src/Thrift/Protocol/Binary.hs b/lib/hs/src/Thrift/Protocol/Binary.hs
index c55ea5a..1bc9add 100644
--- a/lib/hs/src/Thrift/Protocol/Binary.hs
+++ b/lib/hs/src/Thrift/Protocol/Binary.hs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 {-# LANGUAGE ExistentialQuantification #-}
 {-# LANGUAGE MagicHash #-}
+{-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
 --
 -- Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
 -- or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@
 import qualified Data.Binary
 import Data.Bits
 import Data.Int
+import Data.Text.Lazy.Encoding ( decodeUtf8, encodeUtf8 )
 
 import GHC.Exts
 import GHC.Word
@@ -38,7 +40,6 @@
 import Thrift.Transport
 
 import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as LBS
-import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy.Char8 as LBSChar8
 
 version_mask :: Int32
 version_mask = 0xffff0000
@@ -76,7 +77,9 @@
     writeI32 p b = tWrite (getTransport p) $ Data.Binary.encode b
     writeI64 p b = tWrite (getTransport p) $ Data.Binary.encode b
     writeDouble p d = writeI64 p (fromIntegral $ floatBits d)
-    writeString p s = writeI32 p (fromIntegral $ length s) >> tWrite (getTransport p) (LBSChar8.pack s)
+    writeString p s = writeI32 p (fromIntegral $ LBS.length s') >> tWrite (getTransport p) s'
+      where
+        s' = encodeUtf8 s
     writeBinary p s = writeI32 p (fromIntegral $ LBS.length s) >> tWrite (getTransport p) s
 
     readMessageBegin p = do
@@ -136,7 +139,7 @@
 
     readString p = do
         i <- readI32 p
-        LBSChar8.unpack `liftM` tReadAll (getTransport p) (fromIntegral i)
+        decodeUtf8 `liftM` tReadAll (getTransport p) (fromIntegral i)
 
     readBinary p = do
         i <- readI32 p
diff --git a/lib/hs/src/Thrift/Transport/Handle.hs b/lib/hs/src/Thrift/Transport/Handle.hs
index 70d39e7..cf4822b 100644
--- a/lib/hs/src/Thrift/Transport/Handle.hs
+++ b/lib/hs/src/Thrift/Transport/Handle.hs
@@ -27,7 +27,9 @@
     , HandleSource(..)
     ) where
 
-import Control.Exception ( throw )
+import Prelude hiding ( catch )
+
+import Control.Exception ( catch, throw )
 import Control.Monad ()
 
 import Network
diff --git a/lib/hs/src/Thrift/Types.hs b/lib/hs/src/Thrift/Types.hs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e917e39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/hs/src/Thrift/Types.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+-- Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+-- or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
+-- distributed with this work for additional information
+-- regarding copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file
+-- to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+-- "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+-- with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+--
+--   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+--
+-- Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+-- software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+-- "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+-- KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
+-- specific language governing permissions and limitations
+-- under the License.
+--
+
+module Thrift.Types where
+
+import Data.Foldable (foldl')
+import Data.Hashable ( Hashable, hashWithSalt )
+import qualified Data.HashMap.Strict as Map
+import qualified Data.HashSet as Set
+import qualified Data.Vector as Vector
+
+instance (Hashable k, Hashable v) => Hashable (Map.HashMap k v) where
+  hashWithSalt salt = foldl' hashWithSalt salt . Map.toList
+
+instance (Hashable a) => Hashable (Set.HashSet a) where
+  hashWithSalt salt = foldl' hashWithSalt salt
+
+instance (Hashable a) => Hashable (Vector.Vector a) where
+  hashWithSalt salt = Vector.foldl' hashWithSalt salt