Quoted from "Python Cookbook, 2nd Edition" (O'Reilly Japan). I modified it a little.

sample.py

parser = Xml2Obj()
root = self.parser.parse("""<?xml version="1.0"?><parent id="top"><child1 name="paul">Text goes here</child1><child2 name="fred">More text</child2></parent>""")

# These have the same meaning.
print root.getElements('item1')[0].getData()
# => Text goes here
print root.item1[0].getData()
# => Text goes here

xml2obj.py

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
"""
Much of this program is quoted from "Python Cookbook, 2nd Edition" p.479 (O'Reilly Japan).
Only the method Element.__getattr__ is written by me.
And changed to encode strings to UTF-8.
"""

from xml.parsers import expat

class Element(object):

  def __init__(self, name, attributes):
    self.name = name
    self.attributes = attributes
    self.cdata = ''
    self.children = []

  def __getattr__(self, key):
    return self.getElements(key)

  def addChild(self, element):
    self.children.append(element)

  def getAttribute(self, key):
    return self.attributes.get(key)

  def getData(self):
    return self.cdata

  def getElements(self, name=''):
    if name:
      return [child for child in self.children if child.name == name]

class Xml2Obj(object):

  def __init__(self):
    self.root = None
    self.nodeStack = []

  def StartElement(self, name, attributes):
    attributes = dict([(key, attributes[key].encode("utf-8")) for key in attributes])
    element = Element(name.encode("utf-8"), attributes)
    if self.nodeStack:
      parent = self.nodeStack[-1]
      parent.addChild(element)
    else:
      self.root = element
    self.nodeStack.append(element)

  def EndElement(self, name):
    # self.nodeStack[-1].pop()
    # I think following is exact.
    self.nodeStack.pop()

  def CharacterData(self, data):
    if data.strip():
      data = data.encode("utf-8")
      element = self.nodeStack[-1]
      element.cdata += data

  def parse(self, string):
    Parser = expat.ParserCreate()
    Parser.StartElementHandler = self.StartElement
    Parser.EndElementHandler = self.EndElement
    Parser.CharacterDataHandler = self.CharacterData
    ParserStatus = Parser.Parse(string, True)
    return self.root

xml2objtestcase.py

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

import unittest
from xml2obj import Element, Xml2Obj

class Xml2ObjTestCase(unittest.TestCase):

  def setUp(self):
    self.parser = Xml2Obj()
    self.root = self.parser.parse("""<?xml version="1.0"?><parent id="top"><child1 name="paul">Text goes here</child1><child2 name="fred">More text</child2></parent>""")
    self.rootJp = self.parser.parse("""<?xml version="1.0"?><parent id="最上位"><child1 name="イチロー">日本語の文字列</child1><child2 name="ジロー">もうひとつ</child2></parent>""")

  def testRootIsElement(self):
    self.assert_(isinstance(self.root, Element))

  def testRootIsElementJp(self):
    self.assert_(isinstance(self.rootJp, Element))

  def testChildIsList(self):
    self.assert_(isinstance(self.root.getElements('child1'), list))
    self.assert_(isinstance(self.root.child1, list))

  def testChildIsListJp(self):
    self.assert_(isinstance(self.rootJp.getElements('child1'), list))
    self.assert_(isinstance(self.rootJp.child1, list))

  def testGetDataIsExact(self):
    self.assertEqual(self.root.getElements('child1')[0].getData(), "Text goes here")
    self.assertEqual(self.root.getElements('child2')[0].getData(), "More text")

  def testGetDataIsExactJp(self):
    self.assertEqual(self.rootJp.getElements('child1')[0].getData(), "日本語の文字列")
    self.assertEqual(self.rootJp.getElements('child2')[0].getData(), "もうひとつ")

  def testGetDataByGetattrIsExact(self):
    self.assertEqual(self.root.child1[0].getData(), "Text goes here")
    self.assertEqual(self.root.child2[0].getData(), "More text")

  def testGetDataByGetattrIsExactJp(self):
    self.assertEqual(self.rootJp.child1[0].getData(), "日本語の文字列")
    self.assertEqual(self.rootJp.child2[0].getData(), "もうひとつ")


  def testGetAttributeIsExact(self):
    self.assertEqual(self.root.getAttribute('id'), "top")
    self.assertEqual(self.root.child1[0].getAttribute('name'), "paul")
    self.assertEqual(self.root.child2[0].getAttribute('name'), "fred")

  def testGetAttributeIsExactJp(self):
    self.assertEqual(self.rootJp.getAttribute('id'), "最上位")
    self.assertEqual(self.rootJp.child1[0].getAttribute('name'), "イチロー")
    self.assertEqual(self.rootJp.child2[0].getAttribute('name'), "ジロー")

  def testAddChildIsExact(self):
    newChild = self.parser.parse("""<?xml version="1.0"?><child3 name="john">I am a new one</child3>""")
    self.root.addChild(newChild)
    self.assertEqual(self.root.getElements('child3')[0].getData(), "I am a new one")
    self.assertEqual(self.root.child3[0].getData(), "I am a new one")
    self.assertEqual(self.root.child3[0].getAttribute('name'), "john")

  def testAddChildIsExactJp(self):
    newChild = self.parser.parse("""<?xml version="1.0"?><child3 name="サブロー">新要素</child3>""")
    self.root.addChild(newChild)
    self.assertEqual(self.root.getElements('child3')[0].getData(), "新要素")
    self.assertEqual(self.root.child3[0].getData(), "新要素")
    self.assertEqual(self.root.child3[0].getAttribute('name'), "サブロー")

unittest.main()