I am trying to plot graphs using matplotlib with labels and titles written in Mandarin (Chinese). However matplotlib renders them as boxes. I have tried the following approaches to try to solve the problem:

• Include magic line # -*- coding:utf8 -*- (no effect)
• Use pyplotz library (error/no effect)
• Specify unicode (u”smth”) (no effect)

Can somebody help me to solve this problem? Thank you very much!