Perl/mySQL/UTF-8 script works with IE, but no other browser...

[Keith Welch]

I'm developing a unicode based Chinese calligraphy dictionary. A user chooses a chinese character first by its romanized version (http://www.shufawest.us/zidian/z-test.html). The script performs a query and returns a new list of all appropriate Chinese characters (the actual characters in UTF-8 encoding). The user then clicks on the character of his choice, which sends a utf-8 character back to the script. Another query is performed, and all images linked to that character are displayed.

The problem is, only IE properly recognizes the UTF-8 characters in the browser address bar during the "get" action. The link for the 2nd stage of the selection process should look like "www.shufawest/cgi-bin/z-test.pl?char='X'", where 'X' is an actual chinese character encoded utf8.
But the character is only rendered correctly in IE. Therefore the first query returns an empty set in the other browsers.

Does anyone know what the difference is between IE and all the other browsers that might be causing this?

Thanks,
KW
IU Bloomington