Zero width space in translations

We would like to use `​& # x 200b;` in source and translation (as a hint for line breaks) but ran into some problems:

• & in source is replaced by qsTr with `& amp;` in the translation file. Escaping does not work. So we can not use `​& # x 200b;` there. Using the unicode character is not a good way, because it is hard to develop because it is not visible.
• Using `​& # x 200b;` in the translation works in a first step. But (re)generating the translation will replace it with the unicode character so it is no longer visible. That is a problem in the development.
• Even if we add a post processing to replace the unicode character with `​& # x 200b;` tools like the Qt Linguist will not show it because it is interpreted there.

Any suggestions what we can do?