I think the answer is that you mostly didn't, because it was cheaper/better to just carve the whole page in wood, which then acts as it's own press, and was the widespread technique used in Europe for images and short text before people tried moveable type.
So it's kind of like, why didn't we use electric cars in the 1900s, the answer is we did, but since something else was cheaper/better at that moment given the context all the decades of industrial innovation happened around that model, until there was a reason to revisit it much later. I think the Chinese inventors were like those early electric car makers. Really smart inventors, but just missing some key supporting infrastructure or need. Just like printing in Europe was held back by lack of paper.
So it's kind of like, why didn't we use electric cars in the 1900s, the answer is we did, but since something else was cheaper/better at that moment given the context all the decades of industrial innovation happened around that model, until there was a reason to revisit it much later. I think the Chinese inventors were like those early electric car makers. Really smart inventors, but just missing some key supporting infrastructure or need. Just like printing in Europe was held back by lack of paper.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodblock_printing#Impact_of_m...