diff --git a/simplekml/base.py b/simplekml/base.py
index ec8b7a1..3d0d0fa 100644
--- a/simplekml/base.py
+++ b/simplekml/base.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 import os
 import cgi
+from xml.sax.saxutils import escape, unescape
 import xml.dom.minidom
 from simplekml.makeunicode import u
 
@@ -73,12 +74,12 @@ def _chrconvert(cls, text):
         count = text.count(cdatastart)
         if count > 0:
             for i in range(count):
-                endtext += cgi.escape(starttext[0:starttext.find(cdatastart)])
+                endtext += escape(starttext[0:starttext.find(cdatastart)])
                 endtext += starttext[starttext.find(cdatastart):starttext.find(cdataend)+len(cdataend)]
                 starttext = starttext[starttext.find(cdataend)+len(cdataend):]
             endtext += starttext
         else:
-            endtext = cgi.escape(text)
+            endtext = escape(text)
         return endtext
 
     @classmethod
@@ -302,4 +303,4 @@ def _inner(self, value):
                                         "simplekml.{1}".format(value.__class__.__name__, classtype.__name__))
             return f(self, value)
         return _inner
-    return _second
\ No newline at end of file
+    return _second