diff --git a/elasticsearch/connection/http_requests.py b/elasticsearch/connection/http_requests.py
index 4da838517..5db73aadf 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/connection/http_requests.py
+++ b/elasticsearch/connection/http_requests.py
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ def perform_request(
         try:
             response = self.session.send(prepared_request, **send_kwargs)
             duration = time.time() - start
-            raw_data = response.text
+            raw_data = response.content.decode("utf-8", "surrogatepass")
         except Exception as e:
             self.log_request_fail(
                 method,
diff --git a/elasticsearch/connection/http_urllib3.py b/elasticsearch/connection/http_urllib3.py
index a4c5a268d..d1a5c4c9f 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/connection/http_urllib3.py
+++ b/elasticsearch/connection/http_urllib3.py
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ def perform_request(
                 method, url, body, retries=Retry(False), headers=request_headers, **kw
             )
             duration = time.time() - start
-            raw_data = response.data.decode("utf-8")
+            raw_data = response.data.decode("utf-8", "surrogatepass")
         except Exception as e:
             self.log_request_fail(
                 method, full_url, url, orig_body, time.time() - start, exception=e
diff --git a/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py b/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py
index 8e5a9cda6..96c30491e 100644
--- a/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py
+++ b/test_elasticsearch/test_connection.py
@@ -397,10 +397,16 @@ def test_uncompressed_body_logged(self, logger):
         self.assertEquals('> {"example": "body"}', req[0][0] % req[0][1:])
         self.assertEquals("< {}", resp[0][0] % resp[0][1:])
 
+    def test_surrogatepass_into_bytes(self):
+        buf = b"\xe4\xbd\xa0\xe5\xa5\xbd\xed\xa9\xaa"
+        con = self._get_mock_connection(response_body=buf)
+        status, headers, data = con.perform_request("GET", "/")
+        self.assertEqual("你好\uda6a", data)
+
 
 class TestRequestsConnection(TestCase):
     def _get_mock_connection(
-        self, connection_params={}, status_code=200, response_body="{}"
+        self, connection_params={}, status_code=200, response_body=b"{}"
     ):
         con = RequestsHttpConnection(**connection_params)
 
@@ -408,7 +414,7 @@ def _dummy_send(*args, **kwargs):
             dummy_response = Mock()
             dummy_response.headers = {}
             dummy_response.status_code = status_code
-            dummy_response.text = response_body
+            dummy_response.content = response_body
             dummy_response.request = args[0]
             dummy_response.cookies = {}
             _dummy_send.call_args = (args, kwargs)
@@ -653,7 +659,9 @@ def test_head_with_404_doesnt_get_logged(self, logger):
     @patch("elasticsearch.connection.base.tracer")
     @patch("elasticsearch.connection.base.logger")
     def test_failed_request_logs_and_traces(self, logger, tracer):
-        con = self._get_mock_connection(response_body='{"answer": 42}', status_code=500)
+        con = self._get_mock_connection(
+            response_body=b'{"answer": 42}', status_code=500
+        )
         self.assertRaises(
             TransportError,
             con.perform_request,
@@ -679,7 +687,7 @@ def test_failed_request_logs_and_traces(self, logger, tracer):
     @patch("elasticsearch.connection.base.tracer")
     @patch("elasticsearch.connection.base.logger")
     def test_success_logs_and_traces(self, logger, tracer):
-        con = self._get_mock_connection(response_body="""{"answer": "that's it!"}""")
+        con = self._get_mock_connection(response_body=b"""{"answer": "that's it!"}""")
         status, headers, data = con.perform_request(
             "GET",
             "/",
@@ -777,3 +785,9 @@ def test_url_prefix(self, tracer):
             "curl -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -XGET 'http://localhost:9200/_search?pretty' -d '{\n  \"answer\": 42\n}'",
             tracer.info.call_args[0][0] % tracer.info.call_args[0][1:],
         )
+
+    def test_surrogatepass_into_bytes(self):
+        buf = b"\xe4\xbd\xa0\xe5\xa5\xbd\xed\xa9\xaa"
+        con = self._get_mock_connection(response_body=buf)
+        status, headers, data = con.perform_request("GET", "/")
+        self.assertEqual("你好\uda6a", data)