diff -r c0dc1400866a Lib/test/test_array.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_array.py	Wed Dec 18 15:36:34 2013 -0600
+++ b/Lib/test/test_array.py	Thu Dec 19 10:30:38 2013 +0800
@@ -27,8 +27,17 @@
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, array.array)
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, array.array, spam=42)
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, array.array, 'xx')
+        self.assertRaises(TypeError, array.array, '')
+        self.assertRaises(TypeError, array.array, 1)
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, array.array, 'x')
 
+    @unittest.skipUnless(test_support.have_unicode, "Needs unicode support")
+    def test_unicode_constructor(self):
+        self.assertRaises(TypeError, array.array, unicode('xx'))
+        self.assertRaises(TypeError, array.array, unicode(''))
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, array.array, unichr(0x80))
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, array.array, unicode('x'))
+
 tests.append(BadConstructorTest)
 
 class BaseTest(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -1040,6 +1049,18 @@
     minitemsize = 4
 tests.append(UnsignedLongTest)
 
+
+@unittest.skipUnless(test_support.have_unicode, "Needs unicode support")
+class UnicodeTypecodeTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_unicode_typecode(self):
+        for typecode_tuple in zip(unicode(typecodes), typecodes):
+            unicode_typecode, str_typecode = typecode_tuple
+            typecode = array.array(unicode_typecode).typecode
+            self.assertIs(type(typecode), str)
+            self.assertEqual(typecode, str_typecode)
+tests.append(UnicodeTypecodeTest)
+
+
 class FPTest(NumberTest):
     example = [-42.0, 0, 42, 1e5, -1e10]
     smallerexample = [-42.0, 0, 42, 1e5, -2e10]
diff -r c0dc1400866a Modules/arraymodule.c
--- a/Modules/arraymodule.c	Wed Dec 18 15:36:34 2013 -0600
+++ b/Modules/arraymodule.c	Thu Dec 19 10:30:38 2013 +0800
@@ -1929,15 +1929,36 @@
 array_new(PyTypeObject *type, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
 {
     char c;
-    PyObject *initial = NULL, *it = NULL;
+    PyObject *initial = NULL, *it = NULL, *typecode = NULL;
     struct arraydescr *descr;
+    char *c_string = NULL;
 
     if (type == &Arraytype && !_PyArg_NoKeywords("array.array()", kwds))
         return NULL;
 
-    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "c|O:array", &c, &initial))
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "O|O:array", &typecode, &initial))
         return NULL;
 
+    if (PyString_Check(typecode))
+        c_string = PyString_AsString(typecode);
+    else if (PyUnicode_Check(typecode)) {
+        PyObject *str = PyUnicode_AsEncodedString(typecode, "ascii", NULL);
+        if (str == NULL)
+            return NULL;
+        c_string = PyString_AsString(str);
+        Py_DECREF(str);
+    }
+
+    if (c_string == NULL || (strlen(c_string) != 1)) {
+        PyErr_Format(PyExc_TypeError,
+                     "array() argument 1 or typecode must be char (string or "
+                     "ascii-unicode with length 1), not %s",
+                     Py_TYPE(typecode)->tp_name);
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    c = c_string[0];
+
     if (!(initial == NULL || PyList_Check(initial)
           || PyString_Check(initial) || PyTuple_Check(initial)
           || (c == 'u' && PyUnicode_Check(initial)))) {