diff --git a/src/core/ReactComponent.js b/src/core/ReactComponent.js
index fe704dfbbf..949f82f805 100644
--- a/src/core/ReactComponent.js
+++ b/src/core/ReactComponent.js
@@ -35,6 +35,13 @@ var merge = require('merge');
  */
 var OWNER = '{owner}';
 
+/**
+ * Internal properties that shouldn't be considered when modifying node
+ * attributes.
+ */
+var internalPropNames = {children: true};
+internalPropNames[OWNER] = true;
+
 /**
  * Every React component is in one of these life cycles.
  */
@@ -131,6 +138,11 @@ function appendNestedChildren(parentKey, sourceArray, targetArray) {
  */
 var ReactComponent = {
 
+  /**
+   * @internal
+   */
+  internalPropNames: internalPropNames,
+
   /**
    * @param {?object} object
    * @return {boolean} True if `object` is a valid component.
diff --git a/src/core/ReactDOMIDOperations.js b/src/core/ReactDOMIDOperations.js
index da779d352f..b51ffbd019 100644
--- a/src/core/ReactDOMIDOperations.js
+++ b/src/core/ReactDOMIDOperations.js
@@ -75,6 +75,24 @@ var ReactDOMIDOperations = {
     DOMPropertyOperations.setValueForProperty(node, name, value);
   },
 
+  /**
+   * Updates a DOM node to remove a property. This should only be used to remove
+   * DOM properties in `DOMProperty`.
+   *
+   * @param {string} id ID of the node to update.
+   * @param {string} name A property name to remove, see `DOMProperty`.
+   * @internal
+   */
+  deletePropertyByID: function(id, name, value) {
+    var node = ReactDOMNodeCache.getCachedNodeByID(id);
+    invariant(
+      !INVALID_PROPERTY_ERRORS.hasOwnProperty(name),
+      'updatePropertyByID(...): %s',
+      INVALID_PROPERTY_ERRORS[name]
+    );
+    DOMPropertyOperations.deleteValueForProperty(node, name, value);
+  },
+
   /**
    * This should almost never be used instead of `updatePropertyByID()` due to
    * the extra object allocation required by the API. That said, this is useful
@@ -95,7 +113,8 @@ var ReactDOMIDOperations = {
   },
 
   /**
-   * Updates a DOM node with new style values.
+   * Updates a DOM node with new style values. If a value is specified as '',
+   * the corresponding style property will be unset.
    *
    * @param {string} id ID of the node to update.
    * @param {object} styles Mapping from styles to values.
diff --git a/src/core/ReactEventEmitter.js b/src/core/ReactEventEmitter.js
index ccd74c08a8..aa302815bc 100644
--- a/src/core/ReactEventEmitter.js
+++ b/src/core/ReactEventEmitter.js
@@ -323,6 +323,8 @@ var ReactEventEmitter = {
 
   getListener: EventPluginHub.getListener,
 
+  deleteListener: EventPluginHub.deleteListener,
+
   deleteAllListeners: EventPluginHub.deleteAllListeners,
 
   trapBubbledEvent: trapBubbledEvent,
diff --git a/src/core/ReactNativeComponent.js b/src/core/ReactNativeComponent.js
index 82bfcf7002..15f614beb1 100644
--- a/src/core/ReactNativeComponent.js
+++ b/src/core/ReactNativeComponent.js
@@ -32,7 +32,10 @@ var keyOf = require('keyOf');
 var merge = require('merge');
 var mixInto = require('mixInto');
 
+var internalPropNames = ReactComponent.internalPropNames;
+
 var putListener = ReactEventEmitter.putListener;
+var deleteListener = ReactEventEmitter.deleteListener;
 var registrationNames = ReactEventEmitter.registrationNames;
 
 // For quickly matching children type, to test if can be treated as content.
@@ -206,9 +209,46 @@ ReactNativeComponent.Mixin = {
    */
   _updateDOMProperties: function(nextProps) {
     var lastProps = this.props;
-    for (var propKey in nextProps) {
-      var nextProp = nextProps[propKey];
-      var lastProp = lastProps[propKey];
+    var propKey;
+    var nextProp;
+    var lastProp;
+    var styleName;
+    var styleUpdates;
+    for (propKey in lastProps) {
+      nextProp = nextProps[propKey];
+      lastProp = lastProps[propKey];
+      if (!lastProps.hasOwnProperty(propKey) || nextProp) {
+        continue;
+      }
+      if (propKey === STYLE) {
+        for (styleName in lastProp) {
+          if (!lastProp.hasOwnProperty(styleName)) {
+            continue;
+          }
+          if (!styleUpdates) {
+            styleUpdates = {};
+          }
+          styleUpdates[styleName] = '';
+        }
+      } else if (propKey === DANGEROUSLY_SET_INNER_HTML ||
+          propKey === CONTENT) {
+        ReactComponent.DOMIDOperations.updateTextContentByID(
+          this._rootNodeID,
+          ''
+        );
+      } else if (internalPropNames[propKey]) {
+      } else if (registrationNames[propKey]) {
+        deleteListener(this._rootNodeID, propKey);
+      } else {
+        ReactComponent.DOMIDOperations.deletePropertyByID(
+          this._rootNodeID,
+          propKey
+        );
+      }
+    }
+    for (propKey in nextProps) {
+      nextProp = nextProps[propKey];
+      lastProp = lastProps[propKey];
       if (!nextProps.hasOwnProperty(propKey) || nextProp === lastProp) {
         continue;
       }
@@ -216,8 +256,17 @@ ReactNativeComponent.Mixin = {
         if (nextProp) {
           nextProp = nextProps.style = merge(nextProp);
         }
-        var styleUpdates;
-        for (var styleName in nextProp) {
+        if (lastProp) {
+          for (styleName in lastProp) {
+            if (lastProp.hasOwnProperty(styleName) && !nextProp[styleName]) {
+              if (!styleUpdates) {
+                styleUpdates = {};
+              }
+              styleUpdates[styleName] = '';
+            }
+          }
+        }
+        for (styleName in nextProp) {
           if (!nextProp.hasOwnProperty(styleName)) {
             continue;
           }
@@ -228,12 +277,6 @@ ReactNativeComponent.Mixin = {
             styleUpdates[styleName] = nextProp[styleName];
           }
         }
-        if (styleUpdates) {
-          ReactComponent.DOMIDOperations.updateStylesByID(
-            this._rootNodeID,
-            styleUpdates
-          );
-        }
       } else if (propKey === DANGEROUSLY_SET_INNER_HTML) {
         var lastHtml = lastProp && lastProp.__html;
         var nextHtml = nextProp && nextProp.__html;
@@ -248,6 +291,7 @@ ReactNativeComponent.Mixin = {
           this._rootNodeID,
           '' + nextProp
         );
+      } else if (internalPropNames[propKey]) {
       } else if (registrationNames[propKey]) {
         putListener(this._rootNodeID, propKey, nextProp);
       } else {
@@ -258,6 +302,12 @@ ReactNativeComponent.Mixin = {
         );
       }
     }
+    if (styleUpdates) {
+      ReactComponent.DOMIDOperations.updateStylesByID(
+        this._rootNodeID,
+        styleUpdates
+      );
+    }
   },
 
   /**
diff --git a/src/core/__tests__/ReactNativeComponent-test.js b/src/core/__tests__/ReactNativeComponent-test.js
index 2219567ffc..ee7e986593 100644
--- a/src/core/__tests__/ReactNativeComponent-test.js
+++ b/src/core/__tests__/ReactNativeComponent-test.js
@@ -100,6 +100,55 @@ describe('ReactNativeComponent', function() {
       expect(stubStyle.display).toEqual('block');
     });
 
+    it("should remove attributes", function() {
+      var stub = ReactTestUtils.renderIntoDocument(<img height='17' />);
+
+      expect(stub.getDOMNode().hasAttribute('height')).toBe(true);
+      stub.receiveProps({}, transaction);
+      expect(stub.getDOMNode().hasAttribute('height')).toBe(false);
+    });
+
+    it("should remove properties", function() {
+      var stub = ReactTestUtils.renderIntoDocument(<div className='monkey' />);
+
+      expect(stub.getDOMNode().className).toEqual('monkey');
+      stub.receiveProps({}, transaction);
+      expect(stub.getDOMNode().className).toEqual('');
+    });
+
+    it("should clear a single style prop when changing 'style'", function() {
+      var styles = {display: 'none', color: 'red'};
+      var stub = ReactTestUtils.renderIntoDocument(<div style={styles} />);
+
+      var stubStyle = stub.getDOMNode().style;
+
+      styles = {color: 'green'};
+      stub.receiveProps({ style: styles }, transaction);
+      expect(stubStyle.display).toEqual('');
+      expect(stubStyle.color).toEqual('green');
+    });
+
+    it("should clear all the styles when removing 'style'", function() {
+      var styles = {display: 'none', color: 'red'};
+      var stub = ReactTestUtils.renderIntoDocument(<div style={styles} />);
+
+      var stubStyle = stub.getDOMNode().style;
+
+      stub.receiveProps({}, transaction);
+      expect(stubStyle.display).toEqual('');
+      expect(stubStyle.color).toEqual('');
+    });
+
+    it("should empty element when removing innerHTML", function() {
+      var stub = ReactTestUtils.renderIntoDocument(
+        <div dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{__html: ":)"}} />
+      );
+
+      expect(stub.getDOMNode().innerHTML).toEqual(':)');
+      stub.receiveProps({}, transaction);
+      expect(stub.getDOMNode().innerHTML).toEqual('');
+    });
+
   });
 
   describe('createOpenTagMarkup', function() {
diff --git a/src/dom/CSSProperty.js b/src/dom/CSSProperty.js
index 95586d5a7c..619fc2c3bf 100644
--- a/src/dom/CSSProperty.js
+++ b/src/dom/CSSProperty.js
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 
 "use strict";
 
+var keyMirror = require('keyMirror');
+
 /**
  * CSS properties which accept numbers but are not in units of "px".
  */
@@ -30,8 +32,60 @@ var isUnitlessNumber = {
   zoom: true
 };
 
+/**
+ * Most style properties can be unset by doing .style[prop] = '' but IE8
+ * doesn't like doing that with shorthand properties so for the properties that
+ * IE8 breaks on, which are listed here, we instead unset each of the
+ * individual properties. See http://bugs.jquery.com/ticket/12385.
+ * The 4-value 'clock' properties like margin, padding, border-width seem to
+ * behave without any problems. Curiously, list-style works too without any
+ * special prodding.
+ */
+var shorthandPropertyExpansions = {
+  background: {
+    backgroundImage: true,
+    backgroundPosition: true,
+    backgroundRepeat: true,
+    backgroundColor: true
+  },
+  border: {
+    borderWidth: true,
+    borderStyle: true,
+    borderColor: true
+  },
+  borderBottom: {
+    borderBottomWidth: true,
+    borderBottomStyle: true,
+    borderBottomColor: true
+  },
+  borderLeft: {
+    borderLeftWidth: true,
+    borderLeftStyle: true,
+    borderLeftColor: true
+  },
+  borderRight: {
+    borderRightWidth: true,
+    borderRightStyle: true,
+    borderRightColor: true
+  },
+  borderTop: {
+    borderTopWidth: true,
+    borderTopStyle: true,
+    borderTopColor: true
+  },
+  font: {
+    fontStyle: true,
+    fontVariant: true,
+    fontWeight: true,
+    fontSize: true,
+    lineHeight: true,
+    fontFamily: true
+  }
+};
+
 var CSSProperty = {
-  isUnitlessNumber: isUnitlessNumber
+  isUnitlessNumber: isUnitlessNumber,
+  shorthandPropertyExpansions: shorthandPropertyExpansions
 };
 
 module.exports = CSSProperty;
diff --git a/src/dom/CSSPropertyOperations.js b/src/dom/CSSPropertyOperations.js
index 4c67a4cbe8..186043589a 100644
--- a/src/dom/CSSPropertyOperations.js
+++ b/src/dom/CSSPropertyOperations.js
@@ -19,10 +19,12 @@
 
 "use strict";
 
-var dangerousStyleValue = require('dangerousStyleValue');
-var escapeTextForBrowser = require('escapeTextForBrowser');
-var hyphenate = require('hyphenate');
-var memoizeStringOnly = require('memoizeStringOnly');
+var CSSProperty = require('CSSProperty');
+
+var dangerousStyleValue = require('./dangerousStyleValue');
+var escapeTextForBrowser = require('./escapeTextForBrowser');
+var hyphenate = require('./hyphenate');
+var memoizeStringOnly = require('./memoizeStringOnly');
 
 var processStyleName = memoizeStringOnly(function(styleName) {
   return escapeTextForBrowser(hyphenate(styleName));
@@ -60,7 +62,8 @@ var CSSPropertyOperations = {
   },
 
   /**
-   * Sets the value for multiple styles on a node.
+   * Sets the value for multiple styles on a node.  If a value is specified as
+   * '' (empty string), the corresponding style property will be unset.
    *
    * @param {DOMElement} node
    * @param {object} styles
@@ -72,7 +75,20 @@ var CSSPropertyOperations = {
         continue;
       }
       var styleValue = styles[styleName];
-      style[styleName] = dangerousStyleValue(styleName, styleValue);
+      if (!styleValue) {
+        var expansion = CSSProperty.shorthandPropertyExpansions[styleName];
+        if (expansion) {
+          // Shorthand property that IE8 won't like unsetting, so unset each
+          // component to placate it
+          for (var individualStyleName in expansion) {
+            style[individualStyleName] = '';
+          }
+        } else {
+          style[styleName] = '';
+        }
+      } else {
+        style[styleName] = dangerousStyleValue(styleName, styleValue);
+      }
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/src/dom/DOMProperty.js b/src/dom/DOMProperty.js
index f1950b7fed..a08f628ef3 100644
--- a/src/dom/DOMProperty.js
+++ b/src/dom/DOMProperty.js
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@
 
 var invariant = require('invariant');
 
+var defaultValueCache = {};
+
 /**
  * DOMProperty exports lookup objects that can be used like functions:
  *
@@ -98,7 +100,29 @@ var DOMProperty = {
    */
   isCustomAttribute: RegExp.prototype.test.bind(
     /^(data|aria)-[a-z_][a-z\d_.\-]*$/
-  )
+  ),
+
+  /**
+   * Returns the default property value for a DOM property (i.e., not an
+   * attribute). Most default values are '' or false, but not all. Worse yet,
+   * some (in particular, `type`) vary depending on the type of element.
+   *
+   * TODO: Is it worth caching the test elements? Caching the properties
+   * ourselves (as opposed to accessing from a cached test element every time)
+   * looks probably worth it: http://jsperf.com/object-vs-element
+   */
+  getDefaultValueForProperty: function(nodeName, prop) {
+    var nodeDefaults = defaultValueCache[nodeName];
+    var testElement;
+    if (!nodeDefaults) {
+      defaultValueCache[nodeName] = nodeDefaults = {};
+    }
+    if (!(prop in nodeDefaults)) {
+      testElement = document.createElement(nodeName);
+      nodeDefaults[prop] = testElement[prop];
+    }
+    return nodeDefaults[prop];
+  }
 };
 
 /**
@@ -132,7 +156,7 @@ var Properties = {
   dir: null,
   disabled: MustUseProperty | HasBooleanValue,
   enctype: null,
-  height: null,
+  height: MustUseAttribute,
   href: null,
   htmlFor: null,
   max: null,
@@ -158,7 +182,7 @@ var Properties = {
   title: null,
   type: null,
   value: MustUseProperty | HasSideEffects,
-  width: null,
+  width: MustUseAttribute,
   wmode: MustUseAttribute,
   /**
    * SVG Properties
@@ -212,7 +236,8 @@ var DOMPropertyNames = {
 };
 
 /**
- * Properties that require special mutation methods.
+ * Properties that require special mutation methods. If `value` is undefined,
+ * the mutation method should unset the property.
  */
 var DOMMutationMethods = {
   /**
diff --git a/src/dom/DOMPropertyOperations.js b/src/dom/DOMPropertyOperations.js
index 0e2c2c3e8f..d280e1fde3 100644
--- a/src/dom/DOMPropertyOperations.js
+++ b/src/dom/DOMPropertyOperations.js
@@ -19,10 +19,10 @@
 
 "use strict";
 
-var DOMProperty = require('DOMProperty');
+var DOMProperty = require("./DOMProperty");
 
-var escapeTextForBrowser = require('escapeTextForBrowser');
-var memoizeStringOnly = require('memoizeStringOnly');
+var escapeTextForBrowser = require("./escapeTextForBrowser");
+var memoizeStringOnly = require("./memoizeStringOnly");
 
 var processAttributeNameAndPrefix = memoizeStringOnly(function(name) {
   return escapeTextForBrowser(name) + '="';
@@ -86,6 +86,31 @@ var DOMPropertyOperations = {
     } else if (DOMProperty.isCustomAttribute(name)) {
       node.setAttribute(name, value);
     }
+  },
+
+  /**
+   * Deletes the value for a property on a node.
+   *
+   * @param {DOMElement} node
+   * @param {string} name
+   */
+  deleteValueForProperty: function(node, name) {
+    if (DOMProperty.isStandardName[name]) {
+      var mutationMethod = DOMProperty.getMutationMethod[name];
+      if (mutationMethod) {
+        mutationMethod(node, undefined);
+      } else if (DOMProperty.mustUseAttribute[name]) {
+        node.removeAttribute(DOMProperty.getAttributeName[name]);
+      } else {
+        var propName = DOMProperty.getPropertyName[name];
+        node[propName] = DOMProperty.getDefaultValueForProperty(
+          node.nodeName,
+          name
+        );
+      }
+    } else if (DOMProperty.isCustomAttribute(name)) {
+      node.removeAttribute(name);
+    }
   }
 
 };
diff --git a/src/event/EventPluginHub.js b/src/event/EventPluginHub.js
index 99ce2b008b..7fd1100d8d 100644
--- a/src/event/EventPluginHub.js
+++ b/src/event/EventPluginHub.js
@@ -312,6 +312,7 @@ var EventPluginHub = {
   registrationNamesArr: registrationNamesArr,
   putListener: CallbackRegistry.putListener,
   getListener: CallbackRegistry.getListener,
+  deleteListener: CallbackRegistry.deleteListener,
   deleteAllListeners: deleteAllListeners,
   extractAbstractEvents: extractAbstractEvents,
   enqueueAbstractEvents: enqueueAbstractEvents,