diff --git a/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/highlighting/PySyntaxHighlighterFactory.java b/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/highlighting/PySyntaxHighlighterFactory.java
index 545806359205..97bdc9ed6eac 100644
--- a/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/highlighting/PySyntaxHighlighterFactory.java
+++ b/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/highlighting/PySyntaxHighlighterFactory.java
@@ -34,6 +34,14 @@ public class PySyntaxHighlighterFactory extends SyntaxHighlighterFactory {
     final LanguageLevel level = project != null && virtualFile != null ?
                                 PyUtil.getLanguageLevelForVirtualFile(project, virtualFile) :
                                 LanguageLevel.getDefault();
-    return myMap.get(level);
+    return getSyntaxHighlighterForLanguageLevel(level);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns a syntax highlighter targeting the specified version of Python.
+   */
+  @NotNull
+  public SyntaxHighlighter getSyntaxHighlighterForLanguageLevel(@NotNull LanguageLevel version) {
+    return myMap.get(version);
   }
 }
diff --git a/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/highlighting/PythonColorsPage.java b/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/highlighting/PythonColorsPage.java
index 0e1f53ee5c09..67a55f7099d3 100644
--- a/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/highlighting/PythonColorsPage.java
+++ b/python/src/com/jetbrains/python/highlighting/PythonColorsPage.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import com.intellij.psi.codeStyle.DisplayPrioritySortable;
 import com.intellij.util.PlatformUtils;
 import com.jetbrains.python.PythonFileType;
 import com.jetbrains.python.PythonLanguage;
+import com.jetbrains.python.psi.LanguageLevel;
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.NonNls;
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;
@@ -114,9 +115,11 @@ public class PythonColorsPage implements RainbowColorSettingsPage, InspectionCol
   @Override
   @NotNull
   public SyntaxHighlighter getHighlighter() {
-    final SyntaxHighlighter highlighter = SyntaxHighlighterFactory.getSyntaxHighlighter(PythonFileType.INSTANCE, null, null);
-    assert highlighter != null;
-    return highlighter;
+    final SyntaxHighlighterFactory factory = SyntaxHighlighterFactory.LANGUAGE_FACTORY.forLanguage(PythonLanguage.getInstance());
+    if (factory instanceof PySyntaxHighlighterFactory) {
+      return ((PySyntaxHighlighterFactory)factory).getSyntaxHighlighterForLanguageLevel(LanguageLevel.getLatest());
+    }
+    return factory.getSyntaxHighlighter(null, null);
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -136,7 +139,7 @@ public class PythonColorsPage implements RainbowColorSettingsPage, InspectionCol
       "class <classDef>Foo</classDef>:\n" +
       "    tags: <annotation>List[<builtin>str</builtin>]</annotation>\n" +
       "    def <predefined>__init__</predefined>(<self>self</self>: <annotation>Foo</annotation>):\n" +
-      "        <localVar>byte_string</localVar>: <annotation><builtin>str</builtin></annotation> = 'newline:\\n also newline:\\x0a'\n" +
+      "        <localVar>byte_string</localVar>: <annotation><builtin>bytes</builtin></annotation> = b'newline:\\n also newline:\\x0a'\n" +
       "        <localVar>text_string</localVar> = u\"Cyrillic Я is \\u042f. Oops: \\u042g\"\n" +
       "        <self>self</self>.<mcall>makeSense</mcall>(<kwarg>whatever</kwarg>=1)\n" +
       "    \n" +