example of my test code:
<?
$city = "L\u00e9ry, Quebec";
echo 'city original: '.$city.'<br>';
$city = preg_replace('/u([\da-fA-F]{4})/', '&#x\1;', $city);
echo 'city modified: '.$city.'<br>';
?>
my result is:
city original: L\u00e9ry, Quebec
city modified: L\éry, Q
I'm having some issues... thx