diff --git a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/Utility.java b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/Utility.java
index 226ccb4cc3c..625db2a1247 100755
--- a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/Utility.java
+++ b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/Utility.java
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@
  *******************************************************************************
  *
  * $Source: /xsrl/Nsvn/icu/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/Utility.java,v $
- * $Date: 2003/10/07 17:22:14 $
- * $Revision: 1.47 $
+ * $Date: 2003/10/07 18:11:01 $
+ * $Revision: 1.48 $
  *
  *****************************************************************************************
  */
@@ -803,17 +803,15 @@ public final class Utility {
             if (result < 0 || result >= 0x110000) {
                 return -1;
             }
-            // If a 'u' escape sequence (16-bit) specifies a lead
-            // surrogate, see if there is a trail surrogate after it,
-            // either as a 'u' escape or as a literal.  If so, join
-            // them up into a supplementary.
-            if (maxDig == 4 && offset < length &&
+            // If an escape sequence specifies a lead surrogate, see
+            // if there is a trail surrogate after it, either as an
+            // escape or as a literal.  If so, join them up into a
+            // supplementary.
+            if (offset < length &&
                 UTF16.isLeadSurrogate((char) result)) {
-                c = s.charAt(offset); // [sic] get 16-bit code unit
                 int ahead = offset+1;
-                // ONLY parse backslash 'u', nothing else
-                if (c == '\\' && (offset+1) < length &&
-                    s.charAt(offset+1) == 'u') {
+                c = s.charAt(offset); // [sic] get 16-bit code unit
+                if (c == '\\' && ahead < length) {
                     int o[] = new int[] { ahead };
                     c = unescapeAt(s, o);
                     ahead = o[0];