diff --git a/SAX2.c b/SAX2.c
index 474ea372..968da080 100644
--- a/SAX2.c
+++ b/SAX2.c
@@ -2503,10 +2503,7 @@ xmlSAX2Reference(void *ctx, const xmlChar *name)
     xmlGenericError(xmlGenericErrorContext,
 	    "SAX.xmlSAX2Reference(%s)\n", name);
 #endif
-    if (name[0] == '#')
-	ret = xmlNewCharRef(ctxt->myDoc, name);
-    else
-	ret = xmlNewReference(ctxt->myDoc, name);
+    ret = xmlNewReference(ctxt->myDoc, name);
 #ifdef DEBUG_SAX_TREE
     xmlGenericError(xmlGenericErrorContext,
 	    "add xmlSAX2Reference %s to %s \n", name, ctxt->node->name);
diff --git a/parser.c b/parser.c
index ad8675d2..942029a6 100644
--- a/parser.c
+++ b/parser.c
@@ -6867,42 +6867,19 @@ xmlParseReference(xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt) {
     if (NXT(1) == '#') {
 	int i = 0;
 	xmlChar out[16];
-	int hex = NXT(2);
 	int value = xmlParseCharRef(ctxt);
 
 	if (value == 0)
 	    return;
-	if (ctxt->charset != XML_CHAR_ENCODING_UTF8) {
-	    /*
-	     * So we are using non-UTF-8 buffers
-	     * Check that the char fit on 8bits, if not
-	     * generate a CharRef.
-	     */
-	    if (value <= 0xFF) {
-		out[0] = value;
-		out[1] = 0;
-		if ((ctxt->sax != NULL) && (ctxt->sax->characters != NULL) &&
-		    (!ctxt->disableSAX))
-		    ctxt->sax->characters(ctxt->userData, out, 1);
-	    } else {
-		if ((hex == 'x') || (hex == 'X'))
-		    snprintf((char *)out, sizeof(out), "#x%X", value);
-		else
-		    snprintf((char *)out, sizeof(out), "#%d", value);
-		if ((ctxt->sax != NULL) && (ctxt->sax->reference != NULL) &&
-		    (!ctxt->disableSAX))
-		    ctxt->sax->reference(ctxt->userData, out);
-	    }
-	} else {
-	    /*
-	     * Just encode the value in UTF-8
-	     */
-	    COPY_BUF(0 ,out, i, value);
-	    out[i] = 0;
-	    if ((ctxt->sax != NULL) && (ctxt->sax->characters != NULL) &&
-		(!ctxt->disableSAX))
-		ctxt->sax->characters(ctxt->userData, out, i);
-	}
+
+        /*
+         * Just encode the value in UTF-8
+         */
+        COPY_BUF(0, out, i, value);
+        out[i] = 0;
+        if ((ctxt->sax != NULL) && (ctxt->sax->characters != NULL) &&
+            (!ctxt->disableSAX))
+            ctxt->sax->characters(ctxt->userData, out, i);
 	return;
     }