diff --git a/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/YamlRenderer.scala b/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/YamlRenderer.scala
index ade9f517..a73516ea 100644
--- a/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/YamlRenderer.scala
+++ b/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/YamlRenderer.scala
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ class YamlRenderer(
           null,
           YamlRenderer.this.elemBuilder,
           s,
-          escapeUnicode = true,
+          escapeUnicode = false,
           wrapQuotes = true
         )
       } else {
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ class YamlRenderer(
         null,
         elemBuilder,
         s,
-        escapeUnicode = true,
+        escapeUnicode = false,
         wrapQuotes = true
       )
     }
diff --git a/sjsonnet/test/resources/new_test_suite/yaml_unicode_native_output.jsonnet b/sjsonnet/test/resources/new_test_suite/yaml_unicode_native_output.jsonnet
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..069e1a30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sjsonnet/test/resources/new_test_suite/yaml_unicode_native_output.jsonnet
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+// Regression test: YAML output must pass through Unicode natively.
+// Golden verified against cpp-jsonnet 0.21.0, go-jsonnet 0.22.0, jrsonnet 0.5.0-pre99.
+std.assertEqual(std.manifestYamlDoc("世界"), "\"世界\"") &&
+std.assertEqual(std.manifestYamlDoc("café"), "\"café\"") &&
+std.assertEqual(std.manifestYamlDoc({name: "世界", drink: "café"}),
+  "\"drink\": \"café\"\n\"name\": \"世界\"") &&
+std.assertEqual(std.manifestYamlDoc(["🌍", "世界", "café"]),
+  "- \"🌍\"\n- \"世界\"\n- \"café\"") &&
+true
diff --git a/sjsonnet/test/resources/new_test_suite/yaml_unicode_native_output.jsonnet.golden b/sjsonnet/test/resources/new_test_suite/yaml_unicode_native_output.jsonnet.golden
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..27ba77dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sjsonnet/test/resources/new_test_suite/yaml_unicode_native_output.jsonnet.golden
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+true