diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Docbook.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Docbook.hs
index f3ac726a9..878d2face 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Docbook.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Writers/Docbook.hs
@@ -69,11 +69,12 @@ writeDocbook opts (Pandoc (Meta tit auths dat) blocks) =
                     then Just $ writerColumns opts
                     else Nothing
       render' = render colwidth
-      opts' = if "</book>" `isSuffixOf`
+      opts' = if "/book>" `isSuffixOf`
                       (removeTrailingSpace $ writerTemplate opts)
                  then opts{ writerChapters = True }
                  else opts
-      main     = render' $ vcat (map (elementToDocbook opts') elements)
+      startLvl = if writerChapters opts' then 0 else 1
+      main     = render' $ vcat (map (elementToDocbook opts' startLvl) elements)
       context = writerVariables opts ++
                 [ ("body", main)
                 , ("title", render' title)
@@ -84,19 +85,20 @@ writeDocbook opts (Pandoc (Meta tit auths dat) blocks) =
          else main
 
 -- | Convert an Element to Docbook.
-elementToDocbook :: WriterOptions -> Element -> Doc
-elementToDocbook opts (Blk block) = blockToDocbook opts block 
-elementToDocbook opts (Sec _ _num id' title elements) =
+elementToDocbook :: WriterOptions -> Int -> Element -> Doc
+elementToDocbook opts _   (Blk block) = blockToDocbook opts block 
+elementToDocbook opts lvl (Sec _ _num id' title elements) =
   -- Docbook doesn't allow sections with no content, so insert some if needed
   let elements' = if null elements
                     then [Blk (Para [])]
                     else elements
-      tag = if writerChapters opts
-               then "chapter"
-               else "section"
+      tag = case lvl of
+                 n | n == 0           -> "chapter"
+                   | n >= 1 && n <= 5 -> "sect" ++ show n
+                   | otherwise        -> "simplesect"
   in  inTags True tag [("id",id')] $
       inTagsSimple "title" (inlinesToDocbook opts title) $$
-      vcat (map (elementToDocbook opts{ writerChapters = False }) elements') 
+      vcat (map (elementToDocbook opts (lvl + 1)) elements')
 
 -- | Convert a list of Pandoc blocks to Docbook.
 blocksToDocbook :: WriterOptions -> [Block] -> Doc
diff --git a/tests/writer.docbook b/tests/writer.docbook
index d767b6e20..0eeaebbfd 100644
--- a/tests/writer.docbook
+++ b/tests/writer.docbook
@@ -18,42 +18,42 @@
   This is a set of tests for pandoc. Most of them are adapted from John
   Gruber’s markdown test suite.
 </para>
-<section id="headers">
+<sect1 id="headers">
   <title>Headers</title>
-  <section id="level-2-with-an-embedded-link">
+  <sect2 id="level-2-with-an-embedded-link">
     <title>Level 2 with an <ulink url="/url">embedded link</ulink></title>
-    <section id="level-3-with-emphasis">
+    <sect3 id="level-3-with-emphasis">
       <title>Level 3 with <emphasis>emphasis</emphasis></title>
-      <section id="level-4">
+      <sect4 id="level-4">
         <title>Level 4</title>
-        <section id="level-5">
+        <sect5 id="level-5">
           <title>Level 5</title>
           <para>
           </para>
-        </section>
-      </section>
-    </section>
-  </section>
-</section>
-<section id="level-1">
+        </sect5>
+      </sect4>
+    </sect3>
+  </sect2>
+</sect1>
+<sect1 id="level-1">
   <title>Level 1</title>
-  <section id="level-2-with-emphasis">
+  <sect2 id="level-2-with-emphasis">
     <title>Level 2 with <emphasis>emphasis</emphasis></title>
-    <section id="level-3">
+    <sect3 id="level-3">
       <title>Level 3</title>
       <para>
         with no blank line
       </para>
-    </section>
-  </section>
-  <section id="level-2">
+    </sect3>
+  </sect2>
+  <sect2 id="level-2">
     <title>Level 2</title>
     <para>
       with no blank line
     </para>
-  </section>
-</section>
-<section id="paragraphs">
+  </sect2>
+</sect1>
+<sect1 id="paragraphs">
   <title>Paragraphs</title>
   <para>
     Here’s a regular paragraph.
@@ -69,8 +69,8 @@
   <para>
     There should be a hard line break<literallayout></literallayout>here.
   </para>
-</section>
-<section id="block-quotes">
+</sect1>
+<sect1 id="block-quotes">
   <title>Block Quotes</title>
   <para>
     E-mail style:
@@ -124,8 +124,8 @@ sub status {
   <para>
     And a following paragraph.
   </para>
-</section>
-<section id="code-blocks">
+</sect1>
+<sect1 id="code-blocks">
   <title>Code Blocks</title>
   <para>
     Code:
@@ -147,10 +147,10 @@ this code block is indented by one tab
 
 These should not be escaped:  \$ \\ \&gt; \[ \{
 </programlisting>
-</section>
-<section id="lists">
+</sect1>
+<sect1 id="lists">
   <title>Lists</title>
-  <section id="unordered">
+  <sect2 id="unordered">
     <title>Unordered</title>
     <para>
       Asterisks tight:
@@ -272,8 +272,8 @@ These should not be escaped:  \$ \\ \&gt; \[ \{
         </para>
       </listitem>
     </itemizedlist>
-  </section>
-  <section id="ordered">
+  </sect2>
+  <sect2 id="ordered">
     <title>Ordered</title>
     <para>
       Tight:
@@ -379,8 +379,8 @@ These should not be escaped:  \$ \\ \&gt; \[ \{
         </para>
       </listitem>
     </orderedlist>
-  </section>
-  <section id="nested">
+  </sect2>
+  <sect2 id="nested">
     <title>Nested</title>
     <itemizedlist>
       <listitem>
@@ -477,8 +477,8 @@ These should not be escaped:  \$ \\ \&gt; \[ \{
         </para>
       </listitem>
     </orderedlist>
-  </section>
-  <section id="tabs-and-spaces">
+  </sect2>
+  <sect2 id="tabs-and-spaces">
     <title>Tabs and spaces</title>
     <itemizedlist>
       <listitem>
@@ -504,8 +504,8 @@ These should not be escaped:  \$ \\ \&gt; \[ \{
         </itemizedlist>
       </listitem>
     </itemizedlist>
-  </section>
-  <section id="fancy-list-markers">
+  </sect2>
+  <sect2 id="fancy-list-markers">
     <title>Fancy list markers</title>
     <orderedlist numeration="arabic">
       <listitem override="2">
@@ -608,9 +608,9 @@ These should not be escaped:  \$ \\ \&gt; \[ \{
     <para>
       B. Williams
     </para>
-  </section>
-</section>
-<section id="definition-lists">
+  </sect2>
+</sect1>
+<sect1 id="definition-lists">
   <title>Definition Lists</title>
   <para>
     Tight using spaces:
@@ -855,8 +855,8 @@ These should not be escaped:  \$ \\ \&gt; \[ \{
       </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
   </variablelist>
-</section>
-<section id="html-blocks">
+</sect1>
+<sect1 id="html-blocks">
   <title>HTML Blocks</title>
   <para>
     Simple block on one line:
@@ -975,8 +975,8 @@ These should not be escaped:  \$ \\ \&gt; \[ \{
   <hr class="foo" id="bar" />
 
   <hr class="foo" id="bar">
-</section>
-<section id="inline-markup">
+</sect1>
+<sect1 id="inline-markup">
   <title>Inline Markup</title>
   <para>
     This is <emphasis>emphasized</emphasis>, and so <emphasis>is
@@ -1025,8 +1025,8 @@ These should not be escaped:  \$ \\ \&gt; \[ \{
     These should not be superscripts or subscripts, because of the unescaped
     spaces: a^b c^d, a~b c~d.
   </para>
-</section>
-<section id="smart-quotes-ellipses-dashes">
+</sect1>
+<sect1 id="smart-quotes-ellipses-dashes">
   <title>Smart quotes, ellipses, dashes</title>
   <para>
     <quote>Hello,</quote> said the spider. <quote><quote>Shelob</quote> is my
@@ -1057,8 +1057,8 @@ These should not be escaped:  \$ \\ \&gt; \[ \{
   <para>
     Ellipses…and…and….
   </para>
-</section>
-<section id="latex">
+</sect1>
+<sect1 id="latex">
   <title>LaTeX</title>
   <itemizedlist>
     <listitem>
@@ -1133,8 +1133,8 @@ These should not be escaped:  \$ \\ \&gt; \[ \{
   <para>
     Here’s a LaTeX table:
   </para>
-</section>
-<section id="special-characters">
+</sect1>
+<sect1 id="special-characters">
   <title>Special Characters</title>
   <para>
     Here is some unicode:
@@ -1229,10 +1229,10 @@ These should not be escaped:  \$ \\ \&gt; \[ \{
   <para>
     Minus: -
   </para>
-</section>
-<section id="links">
+</sect1>
+<sect1 id="links">
   <title>Links</title>
-  <section id="explicit">
+  <sect2 id="explicit">
     <title>Explicit</title>
     <para>
       Just a <ulink url="/url/">URL</ulink>.
@@ -1261,8 +1261,8 @@ These should not be escaped:  \$ \\ \&gt; \[ \{
     <para>
       <ulink url="">Empty</ulink>.
     </para>
-  </section>
-  <section id="reference">
+  </sect2>
+  <sect2 id="reference">
     <title>Reference</title>
     <para>
       Foo <ulink url="/url/">bar</ulink>.
@@ -1300,8 +1300,8 @@ These should not be escaped:  \$ \\ \&gt; \[ \{
     <para>
       Foo <ulink url="/url/">biz</ulink>.
     </para>
-  </section>
-  <section id="with-ampersands">
+  </sect2>
+  <sect2 id="with-ampersands">
     <title>With ampersands</title>
     <para>
       Here’s a <ulink url="http://example.com/?foo=1&amp;bar=2">link with an
@@ -1318,8 +1318,8 @@ These should not be escaped:  \$ \\ \&gt; \[ \{
       Here’s an <ulink url="/script?foo=1&amp;bar=2">inline link in pointy
       braces</ulink>.
     </para>
-  </section>
-  <section id="autolinks">
+  </sect2>
+  <sect2 id="autolinks">
     <title>Autolinks</title>
     <para>
       With an ampersand:
@@ -1358,9 +1358,9 @@ These should not be escaped:  \$ \\ \&gt; \[ \{
     <programlisting>
 or here: &lt;http://example.com/&gt;
 </programlisting>
-  </section>
-</section>
-<section id="images">
+  </sect2>
+</sect1>
+<sect1 id="images">
   <title>Images</title>
   <para>
     From <quote>Voyage dans la Lune</quote> by Georges Melies (1902):
@@ -1381,8 +1381,8 @@ or here: &lt;http://example.com/&gt;
       </imageobject>
     </inlinemediaobject> icon.
   </para>
-</section>
-<section id="footnotes">
+</sect1>
+<sect1 id="footnotes">
   <title>Footnotes</title>
   <para>
     Here is a footnote reference,<footnote>
@@ -1437,5 +1437,5 @@ or here: &lt;http://example.com/&gt;
   <para>
     This paragraph should not be part of the note, as it is not indented.
   </para>
-</section>
+</sect1>
 </article>